Another Side of Me
by roxyhoney27
Summary: What happens when Draco and Fred fall for the same girl? And what are they going to do when they find out why she's at Hogwarts? Both are willing to lay their lives on the line for her, but what happens when it comes down to that?
1. Diagon Alley

Another Side of Me

Cailee couldn't believe the downpour outside. Where she came from, there was never anything like this, nothing whatsoever. Her sister liked to experiment with the weather and see what she could produce, and sometimes she was able to come up with rain; but nothing this big.

She checked herself in the mirror; she wanted to look good and make a very remarkable impression on a certain young man. Her legs were long and fitted into her jeans nicely. Her red shirt covered up her stomach, but it had a plunging neckline. It didn't reveal too much, but it did leave the looker curious. Her honey brown hair was cascading down her back, forming in little ringlets at the end. Her eyes at the moment were blue; matching the realm she was in.

"Good morning, Tom. How are you?" she asked as she went downstairs of the inn. The inn-keeper was busy wiping the counter where a hag and some goblins had been sitting. He looked up at her to see her somewhat dramatic entrance. He didn't know much about the girl, other than the fact that she was pretty. He didn't know where she came from, where she was going, or why she was here. But Tom was a superior man; it wasn't his business to poke and pry. If this Cailee Oteropeia(its pronounced, Oo-ter-o-pay-a) wanted to tell him, he would listen.

"I'm fine, thank you Cailee. And how might I ask are you?" he grinned. She was a lovely girl. She was so sweet and kind. She didn't treat people as if they were lower than her; she was eager to lend a hand whenever it need be. Actually, the day she had arrived she had helped him clean rooms. Then, she went out into the street and played with some young goblins. They had played for hours, and the mother goblin was quite thankful that Cailee had taken her nine children away for a while.

"I'm doing fine. Thanks so much for breakfast. I'm off to buy my Hogwarts stuff right now. I'll be back in time for tea," she said and waved him off as she walked through the door.

As Cailee had been talking to Tom, she completely forgot the weather outside. She whispered a few words under her breath and soon donned a raincoat and umbrella.

After being in her fourth shop, the weather was calming down. It was now only sprinkling outside and just as magically as she had concurred the slicker and umbrella, she disapperated them.

The sprinkling felt good on her face. It reminded her of home, then she was suddenly angry with herself for thinking of it. She missed her six brothers and four other sisters. Often they were gone, doing on thing or another for someone, but before Cailee had left they had all been under the one roof, which was quite miraculous, Cailee thought. Her two oldest brothers had already been gone for almost eighteen months. They were working for something called the Phoenix Order, or something like it. Cailee wasn't sure what they did, but it sounded exciting. She wasn't allowed into the meetings that were sometimes held in her house, or more often in another galaxy and time period. But it had been her father, who was active with this Order, who had approached her with this mission. And since Cailee had always looked up to him, she accepted it. Her father had told her that---

She was cut out of her revere as a redheaded young man, and a black haired one, and a brunette girl walked her way. The two males were talking in quick whispers, while the girl looked a bit angry.

"Hello mate, my names Ron. Ron Weasley. And who might you be?" asked the redhead.

"Why, hello. My name is Cailee Oteropeia. And your name?" she inquired of the black haired boy, and the girl.

"This is Hermione Granger, and I'm Harry Potter," Harry announced. He watched her eyes to see if they looked up to his scar. They didn't.

_Harry Potter. Somehow my life will be affected by you, as will yours by me. I don't know how, or when, but they will, _Cailee thought. Her sister Amanda had told her so. Amanda was always pondering the crystal ball and reading palms and tea leaves. Amanda was the best seer in her family. And probably the only one. All though Cailee and her brother Jacob showed some signs of possibly becoming one. Which is why Cailee had signed up for Divination; Amanda said she should, that she would be good because of her heritage. Cailee had no reason to doubt that either.

"Pleased to meet you," Cailee said, sticking out her hand. The boys shook it, but the girl just looked away.

"Would you like to step under here?" Ron asked, motioning towards one of the doorways where they wouldn't be caught be the sprinkling of rain drops.

After they had all settled under it, Harry asked, "So, are you going to Hogwarts? I don't believe I've ever seen you around, have I?"

"No you haven't, because I'm no---" Cailee caught herself. She was always slipping up with her tongue. "No, I'm a transfer here for my sixth year. And you three? You go there, right?"

"We do," Hermione said stiffly. Harry and Ron exchanged glances; they had not seen her like this before. Hermione didn't show jealousy; she was content with her looks, her talent, her family. Up until now.

Cailee searched this girl. To a mere person it might look like she was just staring at Hermione, but she wasn't. It was so much more than that. Cailee could tell covetousness was definitely here. But the girl was so much better than that. With just her eyes, and the gift she had been given, Cailee could tell she was gorgeous, she was smart and intelligent, affectionate and sweet-natured. And Cailee could tell her future looked bright. She would be happy, with the one she loved.

"That's great then. I'll know some people when I get on the train!" Cailee squealed, giving each a pure look of adoration.

"What are you looking at?" Hermione suddenly yelled to a gaggle of boys hanging in the street of Diagon Alley, looking into the doorway where the four stood.

Cailee turned and looked. She had been oblivious to the looks she must have been drawing from passer-by on the street. But she saw it now. They were staring at her, afraid to blink in case she disappeared. They didn't want to walk away from her, in fear she would never be seen again. But Cailee was used to it. Her family was held in high nobility at home. They had had many celebrations, customs, rituals, traditions; and she was used to being looked at. She had many suitors at home, but they were all crazy. They didn't want a relationship, they wanted _her._ But Cailee wouldn't let it, nor would Amanda, who had counseled her with the crystal ball telling her that her future sweetie was not to be found in her home realm, but a different one.

Hermione started walking towards them, wand outstretched. Some must have known she was talented with her wand because they immediately began to scramble. Others stood there defiantly.

"This is no spectacle! If you want to stare at something, look at someone else. Not her. You don't know her, you only like her looks." Hermione spat out that word with some sarcasm. "Now back off, or I'll hex you, and the only thing you will ever look at is that," Hermione said, pointing into one of the Potion shops were a mutilated bat hung from the ceiling, some of its insides spilling out. It was one of the most grotesque things Cailee had yet seen; she wanted to look away and hurl. The remaining boys ran off, one or two shooting dirty glances at Hermione and muttering angry words beneath their breath.

"Thank you so much for doing that. I hadn't even noticed they were looking. But are you sure they were looking at me? I mean, I seriously thought it was you," Cailee said. And she said it with honesty; she wasn't lying. Lying wasn't allowed in her realm, nor would she tolerate it.

Hermione blushed fourteen shades of red, and murmured something indistinguishable. She prodded Ron in the side and pointed to a rather small woman carrying an armload of items. She was followed closely by a redheaded girl who looked about fifteen, and a boy.

"Dean Thomas! I'll kill him! I don't want him dating my sister," Ron fumed, and stormed off towards his mom. Dean caught a glance of the fiery look in his eye. He turned to the girl, kissed her on the cheek, and ran off just as a spell hit the ground where he had been standing. The girl started to whine, and the mom jumped in on Ron. She yelled at him for using magic outside of school, that he was still under age. Harry and Hermione gave Cailee an exasperated look, and followed in Ron's wake to the rumble taking place. Cailee grinned and headed back to the tavern.

**Author's Notes: **There it is! My first fic! I'm so excited to finally have it up! I really do hope you all read and review, and please!--leave me some constructive criticism. I know I'm not the best author, but hey, at least I try. I apologize for any grammatical mistakes I might have made, I've proofed this chapter, and all the others quite a few times. If you all review enough, I'll post the rest of the chapters more quickly, because I have most of them done already. Just working on the ending. So please, REVIEW!


	2. The Hogwarts Express

Chapter Two: The Hogwarts Express

**DISCLAIMER:** I forgot to put this in the first chapter, so here you all go: I do NOT own anything you recognize that belongs to J.K. Rowling. If I did own Harry Potter, you can sure bet I wouldn't be here right now writing this. **BUT:** I **DO **own Cailee and her WHOLE family! So never steal it from me!

Here's the second chapter! Hope you likey! And remember, I will love you forever if you review!

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Cailee awoke a few days later to a very whiskery kiss from Tom. She sat up in bed and giggled.

"Miss Cailee, you need to hurry. The car to take you to the train is almost here. Get up, dear." He said, smiling, and leaving the room.

Cailee stood up, and quickly made the bed. She knew it wasn't her job, nor that it was expected of her, but after all Tom had done for her, she could try and repay the debt. She glanced at the window and saw it was sunny. She grabbed a pair of cotton blue shorts, and a white t-shirt to go with it. She slipped into a pair of blue and white flowered sandals, which were something new to her. She was just getting used to the weird feeling between her big toe and the one next to it.

She looked around her room for her trunk but didn't see it. She assumed Tom had taken it downstairs. She ran down the stairs, and indeed saw her trunk sitting near the door.

"Why, thank you—" she began, but stopped. Sitting on top of her trunk in a cage was a brown colored kitten that matched her hair. Its coat was fluffy, and it was content with chasing around the yarn that had been placed in the cage.

"Is it for me Tom?" she asked breathlessly, walking to the cage and sticking her fingers between the bars.

"Well, it's actually for me. I thought it might do good to keep the mice away," he drawled and looked at the shocked expression on her face. "No, I'm kidding, Miss. It's for you. A thank you gift for all your assistance around here. And to thank you for your company," he smiled.

"I haven't done much, Tom. I don't deserve it. Plus, you're grand company to be with. This past week would have been dull and boring if you hadn't insisted on acting as my father," she teased, and laughed as he blushed.

"You were much help. You washed the tables, kept the dinning room clean, kept the rooms cleaned, helped serve food during our busy hour. And I would have let you help with the whiskey, but, I, uh…thought it improper for a fine young lady such as yourself to be exposed to those kinds of things."

"Well, thank you. It was honestly nothing for me to help, I loved being of aid to you," she said. Just then a car horn beeped, and Cailee looked up at Tom. He stepped out from behind the bar and hugged her.

"Thanks so much, youngin'," he said. "Come back soon."

"Oh, I will Tom. I like it here. I love the kitten. She will be well taken care of." And with that, she turned out the door as two men walked in to carry her trunk out.

Cailee inwardly winced at herself. Her brother Isaac had told her she needed to be more physically fit in this particular realm than in any of the others. "There are so many diseases, it's sad. And virus's, and sicknesses, and so many heavy items. I'm going to make you a potion that will help you build muscle, all right?" Cailee had agreed, and tried the potion, once. She had taken a sip and spat it out. "It's so foul tasting," she said as she looked at Isaac covered in the violet colored potion. "You need to drink it," he said and stormed off to clean up. And every time after that, Cailee had poured any glass of the stuff into one of the plants her mom had. It was almost dead before Cailee started feeding it the potion. In almost a week, it was three times its normal height, and budding venomous flowers.

And here she was, trying to lift her trunk up into the compartment she had found, and unable to do it. 'When I get back, I'll drink Isaac's potion 3 times a day,' she thought.

"Agh," Cailee yelled, looking at the trunk as if willing it to float upwards. It didn't work. 'Father, you think me capable of this operation when I can't even use my powers to lift a bloody trunk?' She mentally kicked herself, trying to remember why she had accepted it. Then, out of frustration, she kicked the trunk, which was not smart at all.

"OUCH!" she shrieked. She dropped onto the trunk and looked at her foot. Her big toe was bleeding, rather badly. 'I shall never wear sandals again.' She glared at the toe and tried to remember some spell or something Tara had told her. Tara was her sister most interested in medical care. Cailee thought it had something to do with signing on as a Quidditch medic and traveling with some of the dashing young men on those teams.

"Ah, yes," she whispered and muttered under her breath. Any traces of blood had disappeared, and all that was left was a faint scar on the tip of her toe.

"Are you all right?" asked a deep voice

Cailee turned around and looked. Looking into her compartment was a blond haired boy with deep blue eyes that looked like ice. He was at least five or six inches taller than she; he had nice muscles, as if he had lived on nothing but Isaac's potion for the last week or so. He was actually well tanned, too. Cailee knew who it was.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"All right. Wouldn't want you to be hurt," he said, taking in her beauty. He had never seen anyone like her. Her light brown hair flowed down to about a quarter ways down her back. Her eyes were a few shades lighter than his blue ones. She was curvy enough, she looked as though she passed up most girls in his grade. And she seemed confident, loyal, honest and noble.

"Hey, my name is Cailee. And yours is?"

"Draco. Draco Malfoy," he said, putting out his hand. Cailee shook it firmly, and smirked with satisfaction. She knew him all right.

"Do you have a House yet?" he asked, trying to think of something to talk to her about. He was stalling for time. He didn't want to leave.

"Actually, I do. Dumbledore came to me while I was over in Diagon Alley and let me try on the Hat. He thought it might save me some embarrassment. And a few other teachers were there: McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and I believe, a Lupin." She saw his eyes widen.

"Lupin?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?" Cailee knew why. And Malfoy had a good reason to be acting like this. '_Oh, Draco, I know so much about you, I would shock you_,' she thought.

"No reason. He was here a few years back, is all."

Some people were approaching behind Malfoy's back. He turned to see who it was. He grinned. "Potty, Weasel, and Mudblood. Glad to make your acquaintance again," he grinned sardonically, and faked a mock bow.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron said, pushing past him.

"Ron, Harry, Hermione! How good to see you all again," Cailee said.

"You know them? You talk to them?" he asked.

"Yeah, were kind of like friends. I'm in their House, too.

"

Draco looked flabbergasted. Someone who looked as noble, and gorgeous, as she did certainly did not deserve Gryffindor House.

"Oh, Malfoy, one of your, um, _friends_, is here," Harry said, pointing over Malfoy's shoulder to look back again.

"Oh great," he murmured.

"What was that?" Hermione asked.

"MALFOY!" Pansy shrieked. "Wow, I didn't think I could find you so soon! I've been looking for you," she said, coming up to him and putting her arm around his waist.

_Poor you, _Cailee thought. _Life wasn't going to be easier for her when she got out of school, not with the way her attitude was. She was a tramp. _For a moment, Cailee thought she saw death flash past the girl's eyes, but she wasn't sure.

Cailee began to study the girl's outfit. She was wearing a miniskirt that slit up the thigh and was no good at hiding part of her underwear, or lack of it. Her shirt was deep red, and plunged way deeper than it should have. Cailee thought the girl needed to at least_ try _and contain herself. Her blond hair was done up in some sort of complicated bun. Her make up looked all right, all though there was way too much on her eyes. She looked fake; like plastic.

"And, uh, who are you?" Pansy asked, staring at Cailee.

"I'm Cailee. And you?" she asked. Cailee was trying her hardest to be nice to someone like this, but it wasn't easy

"Pansy Parkinson, Malfoy's girlfriend," she said, and kissed Malfoy on the cheek.

Cailee laughed out loud, with the other three following suit.

"Don't be jealous of us," Pansy said.

"I don't think I ever could be. Not with the way Malfoy greeted you," Cailee said, thinking to the murmur of annoyance Malfoy had voiced earlier.

"Oh, you know you would, Mudblood. You and the other Mudblood have all the reason in the world to be jealous of this," Pansy remarked, pointing at herself.

"Of what? A plastic face? Fake breasts? A guy who hates your guts?" Hermione asked. "Sorry, I think I will pass."

"Granger! Malfoy doesn't hate me, do you sweetie?" she asked in a fake voice. He looked away.

"Well," Pansy said sharply. "I'll be leaving you all. We need to talk, Draco. Come on," she said pulling on his arm. He rolled his eyes and followed suit.

Harry and Ron got Cailee's trunk up on the shelf and added their three to it. Hermione had let out Crookshanks, and he was sitting lazily on the seat as the kitten pounced playfully on him and tugged at his ear.

By the time the lunch witch rolled around with her cart of goods, the four of them had played quit a few games of Exploding Snap, and Ron was in the process of teaching Cailee how to play wizards chess.

"I can't believe you've never played before," Ron said, all though it looked to be a bit hard as crumbs of pumpkin pie fell into his lap. Cailee had to laugh.

"Harry, you're such a pig," Hermione said, pushing him slightly.

"Well, excuse me," he said, nudging her back. '_How cute_,' Cailee thought. '_They would be perfect_.'

"What are these?" Cailee asked, pointing to a pile of what looked to be of blue rectangles.

"Oh, those are on of Fred and George's latest products. I think they're called Azure Treasures, or something like that. I was kind of surprised when they told me, I mean, that sounds like a sissified name; compared to the other things they've made like Venomous Vampire Blood, and Fizzing Whizzbes. I think they're losing their touch," he said, smiling sadly.

"Ok, well what do they do?" she asked, a bit hesitant to try this candy. They had already forced her to try Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, and Cailee had almost puked. She didn't get any good flavors. She had pepper, asparagus, barf, and ear wax. Ron went looking for a brown one he thought for sure was chocolate, but turned out otherwise. And then there was the Chocolate Frogs. Cailee had had no idea these things came to life. She had just opened one out of it's box, and it immediately started hopping around. All though they had a good laugh at her shriek of terror, they sat entertained for almost a half hour watching the kitten chase it around the compartment.

"I don't remember. I really don't," Ron grinned wickedly.

"Oh yes you do! You're lying to me!" Cailee laughed.

"I know what they do, you're right. But I won't tell you. I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"Then I won't try them. If someone else does, I will." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ok then," Harry said, reaching over and grabbing one. He took off the wrapper and popped it into his mouth. He started coughing and gagging. He spat it out in his hands. "This must have expired or something!" he said. "But, it's your turn," he said to Cailee.

She gulped, deeply. She did exactly as Harry did, minus the coughing and gagging. She swallowed it all. "It tasted fine," she said. "Like blueberries or something."

"What? Mine was more like rotted wolfs bane."

Hermione glanced out the window. It was late in the afternoon. "I'm going to go change into my robes. Ron, you and I have patrol duty for an hour, remember?"

He groaned. "I don't want to. Can't I go to Dumbledore and tell him I quit being a Prefect? There's so much work," he complained.

"No, you big baby. Cailee, are you coming?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah."

They walked for almost ten minutes looking for an empty compartment. Hermione was busy looking over her shoulder at Cailee when she opened the door. Cailee giggled.

Inside, Ginny and Dean sat making out. Ginny screamed. Dean lost his composure, and started to sweat.

"Ginny! I'm appalled at you. A Prefect! You should be setting an example," Hermione said.

"Come on Hermione, leave her alone, she just wants to have fun," Cailee said laughing.

"Please don't tell Ron," Ginny begged.

"I won't but don't let it happen again. And if he finds you, ooh, I don't even want to think about it," Hermione said. Cailee laughed.

The two left and Hermione and Cailee changed into their school robes. Cailee looked at the Gryffindor emblem and smiled. She was lucky to be in such a house with nice loyal friends. If only she could prove to be one too.

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**Author's Notes**: Are you guys liking it? I hope so! Well, again, I tried my hardest to correct any grammatical mistakes there might have been, sorry if I missed any. I found a couple in the last chapter. Well, I need reviews to keep posting the chapters, so come on!


	3. Potions Class

_Chapter Three_

_Potions Class_

The feast was absolutely spectacular. Cailee had seen few occasions to match this one at home. With all the celebrations, the cuisine was extravagant and there was always lots of it. Cailee had clapped along with the rest as bunches of first years joined the table. She had also acted very modest when she noticed the stares she was getting from all the young men at her table. And not just her table, all four of them. Sometimes Cailee got very irritated with the attention; sometimes she loved it. She hated the fact that lots of girls, if not all of them, became jealous of her good looks and shapely figure. Cailee honestly believed she was no better than anyone else. The only reason she looked like this was due to the gift her family had been blessed with. And, she thought, if any of these guys had seen her sister Tara, they would faint. The boys wouldn't even notice the drool puddling around them from their mouths, that's how stunning she was. Cailee giggled at the thought of that.

Almost two hours later after the feast had started, it ended. Hermione stood up, looked over at Ron and a few other Prefect's, and started to talk.

"All right, students, especially you first years," she said, clapping her hands for their attention. "Follow myself and the other Prefect's upstairs to our House. We'll tell you the password then, and also explain some rules when we get there."

She pushed back her seat and started forward. All of a sudden, there was the sound of movement as the rest of the students got up to follow her. Ron rolled his eyes and hurried up next to her.

Cailee was one of the last people into the Common Room. The Fat Lady had almost shut the portrait. Cailee had never been into this school before. She and her brother Caleb were the only ones in her entire family to come here for almost six hundred years. She was fascinated by the fact that the occupants in the portraits could move around. Why, on the first floor she had seen some knight on a fat pony, and then when she approached her floor (isn't Gryffindor tower the 7th floor?) she saw the same man yelling at Harry and Ron.

"Turn around and fight you mangy cowards! I'm ready! I can take you, you filthy scallywags!"

"Shut up!" Harry had said, and almost punched the portrait had Seamus not grabbed his arm.

"Who is that?" Cailee inquired.

"That would be Sir Cadogan, one of the most physco people you will ever meet," Harry had murmured.

Also the knights were amusing. They seemed to think they were people; they yelled at each other and challenged each other to jousting matches. The armor clanked around as the lifted their legs up and down.

Cailee also had been graced by Peeves. He was the most absurd ghost she had ever seen, and the most obnoxious. When the group had passed a few classrooms, he jumped out shooting spit wads and chucking erasers at their heads. Most of the younger people turned tail and ran, but most of the others just kept walking, as though he hadn't been there. Peeves then proceeded to follow them for two more floors, shouting out obscene and rude comments.

Gryffindor Tower was marvelous. There was an enchanting fire burning with plush seats all around. There were many tables to sit at, and a few couches. There was a bulletin board in the corner; torches and lamps were all hung around the ceiling. Ron walked over to the message board and noticed that Neville had already put up a piece of parchment asking people to look for his toad, Trevor.

"Well, see you in the morning," Ron and Harry said, parting to the stairway. Hermione and Cailee went the opposite way, to their dormitory. Cailee was very much pleased to see that she was sharing with Hermione, who was one of her few friends at the moment. There were three other girls in there already, Parvarti, Lavender, and Amber. Cailee undressed into her pajamas and let her kitten out of its crate and cuddled it against her chest as she fell asleep.

Cailee pulled on her robes the next morning, adjusting them a bit so they were comfortable. She did her make up, and pulled her hair into a low ponytail that was parted on the side. She admired the natural ringlets in her hair, then grabbed her book bag and headed downstairs with Hermione.

Cailee walked through the Great Hall and felt two eyes staring into her back, almost willing to look all the way through. She had a good idea who it was, and when she turned her head to see, she was right. There, at the Slytherin table sat Draco Malfoy, staring at her. He nodded his head ever so slightly at her, and just when he started to smile at her, Pansy sat next to him and gave him what Cailee assumed to be a wet kiss. Malfoy looked disgusted, and turned away from her. Cailee giggled and sat next to Ron.

"Man! Does it never end? Why are we always tortured with those Slytherin's?" Ron yelled. "I mean, look at this, back to back Transfiguration, and back to back Potions! That's going to be a fun class, that one. Two hours with Snape is just what I hoped for on my first day back," he moaned.

Cailee laughed at him. "It can't be that bad, can it?" she asked, putting some jam on her toast.

"You have no idea," Harry said. "Going to that class is like going to the gallows, except we come out alive each time. That doesn't happen when you go to the gallows, does it?" he asked.

Hermione gave him a kick from across the table. "Of course not. When you go to the gallows, you're going to your death sentence," she laughed at him. Harry just grinned and shoved more food into his face.

Cailee descended into the dungeons and felt a chill run up her spine. _Something terrible has happened down here_, she thought. _I can feel it; I can sense it. _Cailee tried hard to evaluate what had happened, but she couldn't place it.

She followed her three friends to the back of the room where they all sat along a table that reminded Cailee of some of the mortal chemistry table's she had seen before.

As soon as they had sat down, Professor Snape came bursting through his office door. He stood behind his desk, leaning forward, his white, lengthy fingers spread apart. He glared at anyone in the class who wasn't from Slytherin, and praised those that were from Slytherin.

"All right, time for reviews. This year you will be taking your Junior N.E.W.T's, along with a more advanced testing of the O.W.L's, understand? It is most important you do well on these, as these will help determine your career. If you fail these, you will most likely fail the actual N.E.W.T's, and that will be the worst thing that could happen, understand?" A few students were brave enough to nod their heads.

"Here you go, then," he said flicking his wrist at the board, and the potion appeared. Cailee wasn't quit sure what to do, but she needn't have to worry—

"Miss Oteropeia? Please come forward for your evaluation," Snape said, watching her approach his desk. Cailee felt more stares on her back, and as she passed a few of the Slytherin desks' she heard low whistles and one "Oh, baby."

"Yes, Professor Snape?" she asked, standing before him. She felt a bit grossed out standing before him. She had been raised not to be judgmental, but she couldn't help it now. His hair was greasy and black, and long, and disgusting. His clothing made him look like a sick bug; his complexion was so pale, he looked as though he hadn't seen sunlight for ages. Like she had done to Hermione, she stared into his eyes. All she could really tell, and it was rather obvious, was that he was lonely. He was independent, he was brave, and he was a backstabber; at some point in his lifetime he had hurt someone bad.

"I need to know how advanced you are, and how exactly you got into my class," he growled.

_You wouldn't understand. You don't know about my affairs, or why I'm here, nor will you find out. At home, I was tutored by my brother, Jonathon. He taught me so much. I already know this potion you want us to make. If this is what you call advanced, you are very behind. _But Cailee couldn't tell him that. It would ruin the assignment she had to undertake.

"I'm all right. Probably like some of the students in this class, I would guess. But maybe not as good as Harry and Hermione, though." Snape visibly flinched.

"Then you must not be good at all," he hissed. "Sit down, at the end of the class make sure you bring me a sample of your potion. And I want an essay from you about Wolfsbane in the Moonlight, understand?"

"Yes, sir," she said, and turned on her heel to sit with Hermione again.

"How did you do that?" asked Ron.

"What?" Cailee asked, putting the finished potion into a flask and corking it.

"That. You're done. Hermione isn't. How did you finish?" he asked.

"I don't know. It seemed fairly easy to me," she said, walking up to Snape's desk.

"Here you go," she said, plopping it in front of him as he finished grading papers. He didn't even look up.

Cailee looked at the desk, and noticed her flask was the first one up there. 'Crap! You're such an idiot Cailee. You shouldn't have done that!' she mentally kicked herself. 'You won't succeed like this. You know what Dad told you, so do it.'

She sat back down and helped Ron with his potion, since Hermione insisted on helping Harry. Cailee inwardly smiled. She hoped they would get together, and soon.

"Hey, Cailee! Come here," someone shouted at her. She looked up from stirring Ron's cauldron and saw it was Draco.

"I'll be back," she said to Ron, and walked towards Malfoy.

"Not done yet?" she asked, sitting in the vacant chair next to him.

"No. Could you help me?" he asked, looking at her.

"Um sure, why not?' she said, and looked back up at Ron.

"See, what I don't get is this part right here. I didn't know powdered dragon teeth could be mixed with a wolf's blood. I mean, isn't the result dangerous?" he asked, looking thoroughly perplexed.

"Yeah, it is, but look, you're supposed to mix a bit of crushed beetle eyes with it. And I know it says half a pint, but I added that and a bit more, it seems to work better. The beetle's eyes seem to balance out the acid in the wolf's blood. I don't understand how, but that's how I was taught. Do you get it?" she asked Malfoy.

'Where had she learned this? No one I have ever taught had quite that knowledge. Except maybe Granger. But a few minutes ago I saw her try to mix the teeth and blood together without the eyes, and it erupted in a cloud of steam. I must find out where she was taught.' Snape thought, as he dropped eave's on the conversation in question rather than look at his papers.

"A little bit. But what exactly is in the eyes? They seem too small to be able to hold enough counter-active acid for the wolf's blood."

"Here," Cailee said, and reached across him for his book.

Malfoy inhaled deeply. He smelled some sort of flower on her. And, he wasn't sure if his mind was messing with him or not, but he thought she had rubbed her hand a little too close to his chest. He tried to sneak a peek down her robes, but it didn't work.

"To understand this, you need to look at the charts in the back of the book, see?" she pointed to some diagrams in the back of their potions book.

"The eye's hold almost twice as much anti-acidic as the blood does, kind of remarkable huh? Like you said, the eyes are so small. So, since there is twice as much anti-acid, it has more than enough to balance out the acid," Cailee said, dropping the book on the desk and once again reaching across him for some parchment and a quill. She began to draw equations on the parchment.

"I get it now," Draco exclaimed.

"Good!" Cailee said, giving him a hug. Malfoy inhaled deeply again. He didn't want to let her go. It was like their bodies were made for each other.

"If you need any more help, just ask. I need to help Ron now," she said, getting up and walking away.

Draco stood smirking at the retreating behind.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Does anyone smell a romance cooking up? I don't know, but I need reviews if you want to find out!


	4. Another Room

_Another Room_

_Chapter Four_

After a quick lunch that same day, she headed off to Transfiguration with Ron. Hermione and Harry said they had needed to go up to the Common Room to get something, but Cailee wasn't stupid; and the fact that when Harry announced it and turned about fourteen shades of red didn't do any good to hide it.

"Hmm, I wonder when the lovebirds will show up," Ron mused, getting out his book, parchment and quill, and wand.

"I don't know," Cailee laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Seamus, who was sitting next to Dean, and they were at the table next to Cailee and Ron.

Ron explained and finished up just as Harry and Hermione came through the door. Harry was still blushing, all though he looked downright pleased. As did Hermione, Cailee thought. Dean and Seamus turned away and snickered at Harry.

"Good afternoon, students," Professor McGonagall said.

"Afternoon," they replied in unison.

"I'm sure that in your previous classes you have started reviewing for your tests at the end of the year. Well, we will be keeping up with that in here. And, for those of you who can prove you have the talent, and the emotional and physical strength required, we will be signing up to learn how to become Animagi. But, keep in mind you cannot receive your license until you are seventeen. Now please open your books to page 2 and take notes on that chapter. Then, once you are finished, please proceed to turn your book into a teapot, and your chair into a bookshelf. Miss Cailee, I need a word."

For the second time that day, Cailee found herself being interrogated by her teachers. And she was sure it wouldn't end with two.

"Professor Dumbledore tells me that you do not require a wand to do magic, is that correct?" she asked, looking into Cailee's eyes.

"He is," Cailee nodded.

"And how is that? Why do you not need a wand? And if you do not need a wand, what do you use?"

"I use this, ma'am," Cailee said, reaching inside her robe for a small crystal ball (it's not like the ones used by supposed fortune tellers or Divination). Inside the crystal, see-through ball were twelve stars that looked exactly as though they had been plucked from the sky. Only Cailee and her family knew what the stars represented.

When Cailee removed the ball, she heard McGonagall take a sharp breath. Did she know? Cailee panicked. How could McGonagall know? Dumbledore had been sworn to secrecy. Had he slipped, perhaps during a meeting? In fact, did all the teachers know?

"All right, how is it used?" she asked stiffly.

"Well, what would you like me to do?" Cailee asked, trying to remain calm.

"Hmm, turn that desk into a piano and back," McGonagall said, pointing at an empty desk in the front row.

All the students had their eyes on Cailee as she approached the desk, the crystalline ball in her hand. She slowly moved her thumb around the ball in small circles, and then concentrated deeply. In almost a moment, the desk had turned into a piano that was also playing a catchy tune. The class applauded. Cailee turned slowly around to McGonagall. Her eyes were like glass. It was impossible for Cailee to read her expression. But Cailee thought it was one of pure hatred.

For almost a week, people had been coming up to Cailee asking her to do some sort of trick for them with the ball.

"I'm a witch, just like you," she finally snapped one day at a seventh year Ravenclaw. "If I can do it, so can you. Go practice!"

They wanted to hold the ball and try to do spells with it, but Cailee adamantly refused. "Why not?" a fifth year boy asked her. "Because I said so, that's why."

Cailee had been close to her guess about McGonagall hating her. Was it jealousy of what she was; of what her family possessed? Cailee doubted it. Maybe it was being shown up in front of her students. But since that class Cailee had had plenty of questions during classes following afterwards, and she was completely ignored.

Cailee's favorite class had been Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lupin thought her a natural. The very first day the class had played a type of war game out on the grounds. Cailee was captain for one team and Lupin the other. It had been fun. The students had thoroughly enjoyed cursing each other, probably the Gryffindor's more so, because now they had just cause to curse there enemy, the Slytherins. Even though Lupin had restricted them to using a few advanced curses, it didn't stop most of them. Ron had been attacked by a curse that caused him to sprout green sprigs from his ears, between his fingers, and down his nose. Hermione vindictively cursed Pansy with one that caused her to break out with acne, sport purple and yellow broils, and have pus bubbles popping at awkward moments, leaving her drenched in smelly, sticky, yellow fluid. It had finally come down to Cailee and Lupin. They had run in and out of the greenhouses, hurdled over Hagrid's garden, and disrupted Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class, causing the animals he was showing to be startled and run around in their pen. Lupin eventually won when he finally hit Cailee with one of the curses that caused her to stand stock-still while red spots grew all on her, like poison ivy. It was painful to stand through. Lupin made her the guinea pig for that curse as he quickly taught his class about it.

Charms had also been fun. Professor Flitwick thought it the most miraculous thing that she could do magic with her crystal ball. "Magnificent!" he had exclaimed during class one day when she was able to levitate his desk and make it fly around the room for twenty minutes. "I don't understand how you do magic with that ball, but it's superb! Probably better than my own wand!"

Cailee's worst classes by far were: Muggle Studies and Divination. Cailee hated being in that little classroom with some weird bug, who somehow was able to pass off as a human being. She was glad to know that she had been at one time the real teacher, but now she was subbing in. Even though, the class was always hot.

"Why does she need a fire burning in September?" Cailee had asked Ron one day. He didn't answer. He was already asleep. She had then looked over at Harry and saw he was writing a note to Hermione. He looked up at her and the tips of his ears flushed red. Cailee just smiled.

Muggle Studies was so confusing. What was a telephone? Why did they need dishwashers? And what in the name of green grass was a computer used for? Cailee didn't know much about proper etiquette for the Muggles. It was completely different than the manner they had displayed at her home. Cailee hoped that she was never given an assignment in the Muggle world, all though she knew the chances of that were so slim, it was depressing. So she tried very hard to stay caught up, and even had Hermione tutor her once a week. But that was hard too, since Cailee had to tutor Malfoy in Potion's every two weeks. Cailee knew this was of great benefit to her, and she thought about how she never planned it before. It was perfect, and Malfoy didn't have a clue.

"Did you get all that?" Cailee asked Draco at the end of their third session together.

He sighed, and then grinned. "Yeah, I think so. I might need to see Madam Promfrey though, I think I might have writers cramp forever. I took six pages of notes tonight, Professor."

Cailee laughed at him. When she had first searched him with her eyes, she hadn't seen this humorous side to him. She had only seen the fact that he hides secrets, important ones, ones that would turn out very useful.

She also hadn't really noticed too much about his looks. Mostly because her father didn't want her too.

"Cailee, you can't like any one. Do not grow attached to anyone. You develop fond feelings for someone, and you could well kill yourself. Do you understand? This is important. And, if you mess up, you don't know how many people you will be killing. Please, sweetheart, just stay away from boys, okay?" her father had said the night before she left. And she agreed. And, at the moment, she still did.

Although he looked so hot, it should be illegal. His blond hair was messed up from him running his hands threw it so many times that night. Cailee personally liked it like that, not the way he gelled it back to his head. His blue eyes looked like they had seen a thousand years of potions; they seemed so knowing now. And they seemed hungry for something.

'Cailee, you are so hot! Has anyone ever told you that? Our eyes match each other, and your hair is so pretty. It's so silky; I want to run my hands through it. Your face is so smooth; I want to pepper you with gentle kisses. And your lips are so longing, I just want to—'

He snapped out of his thoughts as Ginny came running in. 'Thanks a lot, Weasley. We could have gotten somewhere, but we won't now, thanks to you.'

"Cailee! Guess what? Hermione sent me here to tell you this! Dumbledore has been thinking for quite sometime now about making a Common Room where all the upper classmen of each house can hang out. He thinks it will help build unity, since that's what we need. He said that since we're going to be going through dark times with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named rising again—"Ginny shot a dark glare at Malfoy—"he thinks unity, trust, and loyalty need to be built up amongst us. We need to get rid of the silly competitiveness that has surrounded us the years we've been here, and get ready to face reality. Dumbledore said we can't lead a sheltered life forever."

"That's great, Ginny! Where is it at?"

"I'm not sure, but I believe it's in some vacant classroom. It hasn't been used for a long while," she burst out, her face flushed with excitement.

"This will be so much fun! Don't you think, Draco? Then we wouldn't have to study here in the library, but in the room with our friends."

"Yeah, I guess it would be all right," he said, picking up his items, and left the room.

"What happened?" Ginny asked.

"What do you mean, 'What happened?'?"

"That. Why did he just walk out of here?"

"Because we are done with the lesson," Cailee said, picking up her items, and heading up to Gryffindor Tower.

Inside, the room was bustling with excitement. Everyone was excited about the new room that would be there's to share. The younger students looked a bit depressed; they would not be allowed to use the room.

Cailee sat stretched out on one of the couches, one arm above her head, one across her stomach. Ron glanced at her, and then did a double take. He had seen this exact same scene in a picture before, but where? He was positive it wasn't here in the school; at least not in the halls or anything. He knew he had seen it when he was with his mom, but where? He was beating himself up about it, but the lovely vision before him steered him away from it.

She was lying on her back, her face looking into the fire. Her brown hair was spread out all around her head, like an angel's halo. Her complexion was gorgeous. He could see in her eyes the reflection of the flickering flames of the fire. Her lips were parted ever so slightly, and she looked lost, deep in thought.

And apparently Ron wasn't the only person in the room to notice. Almost every guy in there saw it. And since it had become quiet with the guys not boasting about anything, the girls had looked to see what had drawn their attention. When they saw, most of them harrumphed their disgust and tried to gauge the guys back into conversation.

And the whole time Cailee was oblivious to it all.

'How could she be?' Ron pondered. 'She was so lovely, she knew that. She had to know that. And I know her. She isn't stuck up; she isn't doing this for attention. This is just her. She doesn't seem to care people look at her, and why should she?'

"Budge up there, Barbie," Hermione said, patting Cailee's legs softly so she would move them and Hermione could sit down. Ron was disappointed that Cailee was up in a sitting position now, but she was still gorgeous.

"What's Barbie?" Ron asked, looking confused.

Hermione laughed at him, and so did Harry.

"No, really, what's a Barbie?" Cailee asked too. That took Hermione back. She thought Cailee knew, but now was just an opportunity to explain.

"Barbie is just a toy doll that most little girls in the Muggle world play with. She comes with an assortment of friends and cars and toys and stuff. And for a doll, she's pretty," Hermione said.

"Oh," Ron commented. Then he groaned.

"What?" Ginny asked.

"I still have homework," he complained. "Why does Snape always give us crap loads of work? Does it humor him, I wonder?" Ron said, as he reached into the bag at his feet to get his schoolwork.

"I finished mine," Cailee said, smiling.

"When?"

"When I was tutoring Draco."

"I'm so sorry for you," Harry muttered from behind a stack of books and parchments at a table behind the couch Cailee and Hermione were sitting on. Ron laughed.

"Harry, you look like Hermione did back in third year when she was taking about a jillion classes a day."

Hermione didn't find that the least bit funny. On the contrary, she got up and stormed off to her room.

"What? How come I can never win? If I lie, I end up in a fight or trouble or something, and then if I tell the truth, I still get in trouble."

"That was rough for her. You don't know what she went through that year," Harry said.

"All right. I'm sorry. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

"Hey, I'll be back in a little while, okay? I'm going off to see Lupin about our DADA class," Cailee said, waving to those in the room. They nodded and said good-night as she went through the portrait hole.

'Cailee, you're doing the one thing you know you shouldn't be doing right now; you're turning into a filthy liar,' her conscience told her. Cailee kicked that aside. Right now she was so homesick; she wanted to see everyone in her family again. She didn't care about the hassle it would cause for Caleb to plot her course of travel throughout all the realms. She just wanted to see them, hold them, and hug them.

After wandering for about ten minutes, she turned off into a classroom, and went and sat at the teacher's desk. Cailee had never been in this class before. She sat there for the longest time debating whether or not to make contact with her realm. If she did, she could get into so much trouble. Not to mention what her dad would do. Probably appeal to get her pulled off the assignment.

No, after a long time fighting with herself, she decided against it. And since that was her answer, she started to cry. She wished Brandi was here to comfort her. She would probably hug Cailee and tell her to not give up, that this would be over soon. Then she thought about Nicole, and she had to laugh. Nicole would take a completely different route to cheer her up. Nicole would stand there and tell her jokes and do funny impressions for Cailee.

Cailee waited for a few moments and wiped her eyes. She didn't want someone to pass her in the corridors and see she had been crying. She muttered a few words under her breath, and she felt her face relax. She stepped out into the hall and began walking towards the stairs.

Halfway down the corridor she saw Malfoy. Great, she whispered.

"Hey Draco!" she said, waving to him.

"Hello, Cailee," he said back to her. They were now standing in front of each other.

"I was hoping I would see you," he whispered, stepping closer to her.

"Really? And why is that?" Cailee asked, afraid of what might happen.

"I wanted to thank you for tutoring me in Potions. I'm doing so much better now, I can't believe it. You're better than Snape himself." Malfoy looked at her and then took her hands in his.

"No I'm not. I just know—"

"Why is it that if someone tries to compliment you, you wont hear of it?" he asked.

"Because, well….." Cailee didn't know.

"You don't want to sound prideful, is that it?"

"Part of it, yeah, I guess. But I was raised up different too."

"You're such a sweet girl, you would never sound prideful, no matter what," he said. He leaned forward to kiss her.

At the moment, Peeves appeared.

"OOOHHH! I will get you two for this!" he screeched, floating upside down. "You're going to be in so much trouble when Peevesie tells on you," he said in an annoying sing song voice.

"Catch you later," Cailee said, and bustled off towards Gryffindor.

'Get a hold of yourself, woman,' she said. 'You can't get involved with anyone, it will make all the more harder. Keep your distance, but don't seem to far away.' If only Cailee could find the willpower to do that

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I NEED Reviews! Desperatley! Even a little bit of constructive criticism! 


	5. Farce Lillies

**Author's Note: **First off, I would like to thank Fallen Angel for her review! You have no idea how much I love you for reviewing! And the fact that you like my story! So keep reading! And reviewing!

* * *

_Chapter Five_

_Farce Lillies_

A few days later, Cailee found herself in Divination. She was extremely relieved that Firenze had come back and kicked Trelawney out of her position. He made the class so much more fun. And, they didn't study in some insignificant little room. No, they actually took their class on the first floor across from the Great Hall. It was exactly like the forest. The first time Cailee had walked into that class, she was intensely reminded of the forests at home. Oh, how Cailee loved to roam through them with Mark and Chris. Of the ten kids in her family, they were the most outdoorsy. There was a collection of animals there from throughout all the realms; tigers and bears from the mortal world, vampire bats and poisonous toads from the extraterrestrial realm, and her favorite, unicorns and satyrs from the Elves realm. The forest was such a comforting place to her. When Cailee had first walked into the classroom the day Firenze was back, she took a sharp breath. She had seen, and met, and talked with him before. But was it in her forest or his realm? She didn't remember. She was probably only eight then.

Cailee and Ron were lounging with their backs against a wide tree. Well, Cailee was lounging; Ron was sleeping with his head resting gently on Cailee's shoulder. Firenze was pointing out constellations on the ceiling, which was, at the moment, resembling the night sky. No wonder Ron had fallen asleep, then. Firenze was also showing them the way planets aligned with each other, and often crossed each others' paths, to determine someone's life.

"Mr. Weasley! Pay attention!" Firenze shouted at him. Cailee felt him jump a bit and look up. "Do not fall asleep in here, you must learn. Now, answer my question." Firenze said, stepping back.

'What was the question?' Ron thought to himself. He racked his brain trying hard to think of what had been said, but the last he remembered was Cailee saying something about her sister and Quidditch, but that had to have been at breakfast time, an hour earlier. He was willing his mind to think, but couldn't get it. What was the gosh forsaken answ—

And then it came to him. Mars and Jupiter. And it sounded like Cailee had said it. He looked over at her but noticed her mouth was shut and she was staring ahead at some couple against a tree. How was that possible? He knew she had given him the answer.

"Mars and Jupiter," he said.

"Correct. You must not have been asleep after all," Firenze said, and continued to point at the sky.

'Oh, Firenze, I was. There is something weird with this Cailee Oteropeia, and I will find it out,' Ron thought, leaning back against the tree.

Cailee started. Had she just heard that? Really heard it? Ron had guessed something? 'Cailee, just keep out, and everything will be all right. Don't listen in again, even if it was for a good reason.' She told herself; and then she made a solemn vow to herself and her family.

---

Cailee was having the time of her life. After Divination, Ron had seemed to forget about Cailee being any different from him. They were now in Herbology sharing a plant with Seamus and Dean. Cailee had been at the school almost a month, and she already loved these people. They made her laugh better than Nicole could. The four were supposed to be looking after their Farce Lilies. And they were, perhaps better than other people in the class.

These Farce Lilies thrived on laughter and that was exactly what was happening at Cailee's plant. She never really realized how funny Seamus and Dean were together up till now. They were always taking funny potshots at each other, and neither one of them got offensive about it. Like, just a moment ago, Seamus and Dean imitated Lockhart and one of his undying fans. Seamus had paraded up and down the rows of plants assembled in the green house running his fingers through his hair to mess it up. He walked along pompously, and Ron thought it a rather good impression. Dean, meanwhile, was running along after him, sometimes crawling on all fours screeching, "Professor Lockhart, please sign my paper! I'm your biggest fan! You have no idea!" To which Seamus would reply, "I have thousands of fans, you're only just one. Now don't waste my time." After that, Ron took the liberty to say that Lockhart was in the loony bin, after Ron's own wand had backfired on Lockhart in their 2nd year. After he said that, Ron had to look around sharply to see if Neville had heard what he'd said. Ron, Harry, and Hermione had run into Neville at the same hospital Lockhart was in and Neville was there seeing his parents who had lost their minds at the hands of Death Eaters. Thankfully, he didn't think Neville had heard.

After that impression, Seamus proceeded to impersonate Quirrell, but one quick look at Harry's direction and he cut it out.

Seamus and Dean also surprised her by doing an ad-lib comic event. Cailee didn't think she had laughed so hard in all her life. It was amazing to see their plant transform from the droopy little thing it was at the beginning of class to the gorgeous plant it was now. Ron saw many people look over at their group and saw that many of them were guys; Ron smirked at the thought of how many of them would want to trade places with him at the moment. Ron had never really been the subject of envy, not with Harry as a friend, but since Harry and Hermione were "close friends" and spent a lot of time with each other, he really only had Cailee. And they had developed a strong relationship.

Indeed, when she had first come here, he had strong feelings for her. Her beauty had overtaken him; he was drowning in her looks. But then he had realized, and a bit sadly, that he didn't like her that much. It took him some time to figure out what the reason could have possibly been, but he decided that first, they were better off as friends and second, he wanted to get to know her before he even thought of dating her.

"Seamus! Dean! If you two cannot calm yourselves and keep your comedy to yourselves, you will be separated!" Professor Sprout said, rubbing at the temples of her forehead with her fingers.

"Sorry, Professor, but aren't we supposed to make these plants laugh? You said they thrive on the sound of laughter," Ron observed.

"I did say that, but I also told you that today your sole purpose was to transplant this vegetation into bigger pots, for the time being."

"Oh, sorry Professor," he said, and returned to his work.

"I want it quiet at your group, Mr. Weasley. Carry on as if you were in the library," Sprout said, turning to listen to something Neville had to say.


	6. Beneath the Stars

Cailee groaned. It was the last week of September, and she was floundering with her schoolwork. It's not that it was too hard; it's that she didn't make time for it. In fact, a lot of this stuff was review for her. So, she found herself Tuesday night sitting in the new common room in the homework corner. Her books were spread on the table, along with Hermione's, and they were comparing notes. Ginny was sitting on the floor, her back propped against the couch and her homework spread about her. Cailee glanced up and saw Ron and Harry throwing something back and forth between them. She sighed.

"What?" Hermione asked, not looking up from her studies.

"I wish I could go play ball with them," she said, still looking at her friends. Hermione glanced up.

"No you don't. You don't want to fall behind even more in your classes. It will get out of control."

"How do Ron and Harry manage it, then?" she asked. She had noticed they seemed to rarely ever do their homework, yet they were still passing.

"They copy me," Hermione said.

"Oh, well, won't you let me copy, too?" Cailee asked hopefully. She hated this; being pinned up inside most of the day, nowhere to go, no place to roam

"Are you kidding?" Ginny put in. "She won't let you copy. She won't let me copy anything from her either, not even some of the notes she took last year. I don't know why she let's Ron and Harry copy. They need to at least take some credit for the work."

"We do," Harry said, plopping onto the couch, Ron following suit.

"Yeah, we turn it in," Ron said.

"Well, lets give you a round of applause," Cailee said, laughing. She was strongly reminded of Dean and Seamus for a moment. Those two boys had a friendship, a bond, just like Harry and Ron's.

Harry took a mock bow and then leaned back, closing his eyes.

"I like it in here. I wonder why Dumbledore didn't put it up sooner," Harry said.

No one answered. Cailee had turned back to her studies and looked at her mounting pile of homework. She couldn't believe it had come to this, her wanting to copy just to catch up. 'Oh, well. I did bring it on myself. I need to pay attention more and study harder, is all,' she thought.

Cailee was absorbed in her work for good twenty or so minutes until she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. Draco had entered into the room, and he was making his way over towards the game area, probably to play Exploding Snap with some first years that had yet to find out what the game was.

Cailee felt her pulse quicken. _'What was happening?'_ she asked herself. _'You can't really be falling for him, can you?' 'No, no, I'm not! He's just a friend, and that's all he will ever be.'_ But that still didn't stop Cailee from getting up to go to the bathroom, which incidentally, was near the games.

As Cailee walked, she didn't notice that many eyes were drawn to her. Nor did she care. She only wanted one person's eyes on her at the moment, and they weren't there. She sashayed over towards the bathroom, looking at Draco the whole time.

'She's coming over here. What'll I do? What'll I say?' Malfoy thought, as he saw Cailee making her way towards him. He wanted to look away and let her surprise him, but he couldn't. His eyes were too drawn to her enchanting figure. He thought it impossible someone could be so gorgeous. But he was wrong. Here was a….a….a real live angel, someone with beauty so intensifying it would stun you. Her brown hair was lovely; he loved how it seemed to naturally curl at the ends. How he would love to run his hands through it. Her figure was stunning. She was so curvy in all the right places from her chest to her butt, how he wanted to touch her everywhere. Kiss those lips that always seemed to be a bit parted, as though she was thinking. Her lips were so full and lush; he wanted to see them after he had kissed her again and again. He wanted to see her face blush like it had in the hall before Peeves had disturbed them.

"Hey, Cailee," he said, as she had drawn up next to him.

"Hello, Draco. What are you up to?" she asked, feeling like an idiot but wanting to get a conversation flowing with him.

"Not much, really. I was going to play Exploding Snap with these first years, but you came along and I seem to have changed my mind. Anything you want to do?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Nothing I want to do, just stuff I have to do, like homework for instance. But I could use a distraction for awhile. Would you care to go outside with me?" she asked him.

"Not at all," he said, linking his arm through hers.

* * *

"I love the stars," Cailee said, once they had reached the edge of the lake and stood looking towards heaven. _'Of course, you don't know why I love the stars, but one day I would love to tell you.'_

"Yeah, they're all right. Pretty, I guess. I just don't know much about them. I never really looked at them before."

"Well, you're looking now. Anything you want to know?" she asked him, grabbing his hands in hers, but stepping back to look in his eyes.

_'Yeah, there is something. Why are you so pretty? Why do you take my breath away whenever I see you? What do I find so enchanting about you?'_

"Hmm, how about some constellations? I only know one, the Big Dipper. Kind of sad huh? Oh, and do we have the same constellations as the Muggles do?" he asked.

"Yeah, we do, all though we have taken to name some of them differently. Here, let's lay on the ground, then we can see them better," she said, lying onto her back, looking skyward. Malfoy followed suit.

"All right. You know where the Big Dipper is. From there you use it as a guiding point for all the other constellations, just depending on how you see the Dipper. You know that the same constellations aren't here all year long?" she asked.

"No, I didn't. I thought they always stayed there, actually."

"Well they don't. Right now, we can see Scorpio and the Venomous Tentacula," she said, laughing. "Right, I'm sorry, just some of the names are funny is all."

Malfoy lay back listening to her talk for a good fifteen minutes about the stars. He found it wonderful. Every time she told him a constellation and the history to it, he felt like he was learning more about her, like she was somehow connected to the stars. He didn't know the Big Dipper was also Ursa Major, but he liked to see the bear anyways. Her voice was so soothing, he wanted to close his eyes and let her sing him to sleep. And, if he didn't know any better, he thought he felt her trying to move closer to him, trying to be subtle. So he scooched over next to her, so that their bodies were touching. The connection he felt was so strong, like she had sent an electric shock through him.

"Are you all right?" she asked, leaning up one elbow and placing one hand on his chest.

"I'm fine," he said, and placed his hand over hers.

_'Oh, were so close right now, and I like this feeling. I'm sorry father, some things you can't control. I want to be even closer to this young man,'_ she thought as she laid her head down on his chest, one hand resting on his far arm.

Malfoy lay in shock. That was so unpredictable. He never would have thought she would lay on him like this. He almost could feel her head burning an imprint through his chest, right into his very heart. _'Better make the best of it, then,'_ he thought. And just like he had wanted to do for so very long now, he began to run his hands through her hair.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Wow, it's been a long time updating! Sorry about the lack of posts, I've been super busy with school. But here you go. What do you all think of the romance growing between Cailee and Malfoy? Let me know! 


	7. Pansy's Revenge

_Chapter Seven_

_Pansy's Revenge_

'Today's Wednesday,' Cailee thought, as she opened her eyes. She looked at the clock; breakfast would soon be served in the Great Hall. She looked out the window that was closest to her bed and saw the pink and purple light tingeing the horizon. It was going to be a most magnificent day.

Cailee roused from her bed and could see Lavender stirring in her bed also. "I hate getting up so early," she grumbled.

"I guess that's what happens when we get older, classes start sooner. I think our classes should start same as the fourth years since we eat breakfast together and stuff. It's not fair they have like, an hour after breakfast till their first class," Cailee said, groping for the closet in the corner of her room which held all the girls' robes. Then she went to fumble through her trunk where her clothes were that she would wear under the robes. While she was searching, she started humming a beautiful song that her mother had taught her a while ago, she had been so little.

"Wow, you seem to be happy," said Hermione, brushing her bushy hair.

"I am," she said, slipping on some Capri's and a t-shirt. '_But you don't know why, and I'm not sure if I'll tell you.'_

"Hey, where did you and Malfoy slip off to last night?" Parvarti asked, putting make up on her face.

"Oh, we just went out to the lake and looked at the stars. He's so clueless when it comes to Astronomy," Cailee said, pulling her hair half up with a sideways part.

"Yeah, and he's clueless at just about anything else, too, except girls," Amber giggled.

"That's not nice, not at all," Cailee said.

"Yeah, well, it's just a bit strange I guess, because, you know, Gryffindor and Slytherin don't ever mix," said Lavender.

"Well that needs to change," Cailee said gruffly, and tromped down the stairs. The other girls looked at her retreating back, quickly finished up, and followed her downstairs to the Great Hall.

Ron surveyed the scene around him. Harry and Hermione had their heads close together and were talking about something. Then he saw the color rise in Hermione's cheeks as Harry gently kissed her lips. Cailee was in a heated discussion with Seamus about Quidditch, which she seemed to like, now that she knew more about the rules and how the game was played. She was so oblivious to the game and how it was played that Ron thought she might have been a Muggle that somehow got into the school. But, Dean hadn't known anything about Quidditch, either, he thought. Yet, he seemed to like the sport well enough, not as much as he liked the West Ham soccer team, he guessed, scowling to himself. Dean was talking to Neville, probably about Potions, which they were both very bad in, and which they both had today. Ron couldn't believe he had gotten into Advanced Potions, and it seemed Snape was thinking along those lines, too. Snape took any opportunity he could to laugh at Ron, or any of the Gryffindor's, in fact. Even Cailee. This was hard to believe, because no one talked about Cailee, everyone liked her and she liked everyone else. Except maybe Pansy, who was just a stuck up jealous brat. But that was nothing new. All the Slytherins were like that.

"I would like to try flying," Cailee said to Seamus. Ron almost dropped his food.

"You would like to try it? As in, you've never flown before?"

"No," she said sheepishly.

"What kind of witch are you?" he asked in utter amazement, as though anyone in the magical world should have flown a broom before age two.

"One of a kind," she smiled.

"Okay, then there's only one solution. You're going to try flying. Me and Harry will teach you, okay?" he said.

Cailee looked round at Harry, who was staring at her. He nodded his head.

"All right, but you have to promise not to hurt me, okay?" she asked. The boys nodded in agreement.

"What say tomorrow after dinner then?" Ron asked. "Since you have to tutor that stupid git, Malfoy tonight."

The girls that shared Cailee's dormitory looked up at Cailee to see what she would say. They saw her jaw visibly tighten, her body tense, but she nodded and continued eating.

Soon they were out sitting on the grounds near Hagrid's cabin, taking their Care of Magical Creatures class. The animals were pretty cute, Cailee thought, all though she had never spotted them in the forest's at home.

They were like puppies, with long droopy ears, and tails like a cat. The tails were long and puffy, and were about as long as the ear's, which they were often tripping over. Their fur varied in color from a creamy blue to a deep chestnut. Some of them had long, shaggy hair, while others had short, wiry hair. Cailee looked over her notes she had taken and glanced at the name. It was so uncommon, yet beautiful. Benevalor, Hagrid had said. Bene, the root word of benevolence meaning kindness, and valor, meaning courage. But, those were only some words to describe these animals; there was also fidelity, audacity, and reliance. These puppies were strong hearted and independent, but they could be there for you in a flash, so long as they trusted you.

Cailee, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and Lavender and Parvarti all sat around three of these animals sketching them, taking notes, and feeding them foods, trying to figure out which ones they liked best.

Ron glanced up to see Hagrid carrying two crates. He looked back at Hagrid's cabin and saw one more crate sitting on the ground.

"Oy, Hagrid! Do you need any help?" he asked, standing up and walking over to him.

"Naw, I'm all right, Weasley," he said. Then he turned to the class and whistled real loud.

"Students! Look up here, please. Your assignmen' for mosta the year, up till Easter, will be to look after these creatures. You will each git one. You'll need to look after it, feed it, care for it, and sometimes come down to me hut and give it some extra TLC," Hagrid beamed out. "Now, ladies first, come'n pick your Benevalor."

Cailee scrambled up from her group and got to the crates first. Inside, a dozen or so of the dog-like creatures were wandering around, so little she could hold it in her fist. She reached in and grabbed one. It had a bracelet around it's ankle with a number that Hagrid jotted down on a clipboard.

She sat back down and cuddled it until everyone had gotten one. Girls were squealing in delight, and the boys seemed somewhat happy. Everyone was examining everyone else's new pet, pointing out similarities and differences.

"Now, any questions?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeah, are they blind?" A Hufflepuff called out.

"Nah, they ain't blind. They just youngin's, is all, haven' opened their eyes yet."

"How did you get all these?" Someone else called out.

"Bought 'em from a breeder in Bulgaria, their native land. The mom was too sick to look after 'em, so it had to be killed. An' that reminds me, you'll have to feed it special milk often, so you should be coming around the hut every afternoon and evenin'. Don't want 'em dying."

"One mom had all these puppies?" Hermione asked. There had to be over twenty four of them.

"Nah, two moms. One was sick after she gave birth, an' the other 'un caught whatever it was. I'm not sure what happened to it," he said.

The questions continued for the rest of the class. When lessons were over, they were put back into the crates, which were they were going to stay for the time being.

Cailee and all her friends headed off to Charms after that. They sat in class and talked about their new puppies, as everyone was calling them, even though that wasn't their name. Today, they were supposed to make a desk walk around the room, as though it had human legs. Cailee was having a hard time with it, as was everyone else. Seamus got so mad he kicked the desk, toppled it over, and broke two of the four legs off of it. Flitwick wasn't pleased.

"Seamus has a history of violence," Harry said, smiling at his friend.

"Boy, do I ever," Seamus sighed. "Remember in first year when I couldn't get the feather to levitate and set it on fire? That was crazy, but I've done worse."

"Like what?" Cailee asked.

"Um, let's see, one time I was supposed to make a shoebox turn into a tea kettle and then levitate it, but the shoebox turned into an umbrella that kept flapping open and shut, and it shut on McGonagall's head."

"Harry, how many cauldrons have I melted?" Neville asked.

Everyone laughed at that. Neville melted at least three or so a year.

"I dunno, I lost count back in fourth year, I think you were up to twelve or so," Harry said, laughing.

After that, everyone was off telling about all the things they had done, whether it was collapsing cauldrons, turning people's hair's color's or whatever. Cailee laughed extremely hard when Harry told them that he had somehow turned his teacher's wig blue in class one time, before he knew he was a wizard. And how his cousin Dudley had sprouted a tail.

Two hours later, Cailee found herself in Potions next to Malfoy. When she had first sat down, he blew a discreet kiss to her, and she blushed. She hoped no one had seen. Cailee was glad about the little secret they shared. She had had so much fun last night under the stars. She could still feel his heart beating in her ears, as she remembered lying on his strong, firm chest, and how she had trembled with chills when he ran his fingers through her hair. She also trembled when she remembered him slowly tracing his finger along in circles and odd shapes along her back; how good it had felt! How much it had tickled! And then when they stood up to go back in, there was no Peeves to ruin their kiss.

She sat next to him, where Snape had assigned her at the beginning of the year. After class had started, and they had to copy notes from the board, and then highlight almost a whole section in their book, he calmly placed his hand on her thigh. She wanted to push it away, yet at the same time, she liked it. She liked how it felt to know he was there to protect her, and make her feel secure.

Pansy, however, didn't like it. She sat back with her look-alikes and whispered to them about how to get at the new girl. They finally came up with an idea.

She slowly levitated Cailee's ink bottle to above her head; and even more slowly it began to drip along the front of her robes. Then it almost gushed out. Then the ink bottle clattered to the desk top. People looked up and saw Cailee covered in purple ink, from her elegant hair to her robes.

"Oh man," Cailee said, looking at herself. "I'm such a klutz."

As she sat there, cleaning up her robes, Malfoy looked around at Pansy who smiled sweetly and blew him a kiss.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Thank you Zarif, for reviewing to my story! I love yours, by the way! But you already knew that. So there's the story so far. In up-coming chapters, you guys get to learn more about Cailee's inner-struggles and her conflicts, and why she's here in the first place. So, PLEASE review!**


	8. First Time Fliers and Ferocious Fathers

**Author's Notes: **Oh my gosh, thank you Anna and Desiree Champagne for your reviews! You guys totally re-invigorated me and made me feel so good! So here you go, I hope this chapter is what you guys want!

* * *

_Chapter Eight_

_First Time Fliers and Ferocious Fathers_

"I'm so sorry about what Pansy did to you in Potions," Draco said, as they neared the end of the lesson.

"It's all right. It wasn't your fault. I can handle stuff like this. It's just weird, you know? Back home, no one was jealous or envious of me. I was friends with everyone. This is just a slight set back."

"Oh, well I'm still sorry." He said, leaning back in his chair to stretch.

Cailee looked up from the homework she had been working on and looked at him. Once again, he had messed up his hair as he tried to understand what exactly Cailee was telling him. He looked tired, yet eager to understand what he was learning.

"You know," Cailee said, looking up at him from across the table, "you should keep your hair like that. I like it."

"Do you? I don't care for it. I only do it because I'm so confused," he said.

"Well, I'm not telling you how to wear it, but I like it that way," she said, smiling and turning back to her work

Malfoy smiled. _'I think I'll keep my hair like this, then. Whatever she says goes._' He then kicked himself mentally. The words of his father came flooding back to him. '_Never bow down to a woman, Draco. Don't give in to them. They need to know that we, the males, are the boss. They, of all people, should bow down to us.'_

And the only words Draco could think of right then was "Forget you." He honestly didn't care what his father thought, not now, anyways. He was sure if his father saw Cailee, he would give in to her every whim, too. Then he shuddered. He didn't want his father to see Cailee, or look at her, or even talk to her. Draco wanted Cailee for himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Cailee sat in her Common Room talking to her group of friends. Ginny was begging hysterically for Hermione's Transfiguration notes from last year, she had a test coming up she wasn't nearly prepared for. Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Dean sat in a huddle discussing Quidditch, their usual topic of conversation. Lavender and Parvati were oohing and aahing over their last Divination class as they worked over their moon charts. Cailee was reading contentedly _Quidditch through the Ages_, a book Harry had lent her. She found it fascinating, and didn't blame her sister for wanting to become a medic-witch and look after these studs.

"You like it?" Ron asked, sitting next to her on the couch.

"Yeah, it's pretty interesting. Are there really 700 ways to be fouled in a game?" she asked, like she couldn't believe it.

"Yup, sure are. I'll bet Harry's gotten up to fifty of them or so," he laughed.

"Wow," Cailee whispered.

"So are you ready for tomorrow?"

"Hmm….maybe. I'm not sure. I have this feeling in my gut that's saying this isn't good. And I'm so nervous! What if I fall?"

"I'll catch you," Ron said, smiling.

Cailee punched him lightly on the shoulder. "You couldn't catch me. I'd probably be too heavy or I'd be flapping my arms and legs so fast, we'll both need to go to the Hospital Wing."

"Ok, good point. But let's see if I can't carry you, let's see if you are too heavy, which I highly doubt," Ron said, standing in front of her with his back to her.

"No, I don't want to," Cailee giggled.

"Come on, it'll be fun," he said. "Go."

She finally decided to jump on. Ron carried her on his back up the boys' staircase, around their huddle of friends, and ran her through a game some of the younger students were playing. He finally dropped her on the couch again.

"I have an idea," Seamus spoke up. "Me and Cailee will play chicken with Hermione and Harry." Cailee and Harry nodded in agreement, but Hermione was a bit hesitant. With a little persuasion from Harry, she decided to go. They pushed the couches, chairs, and tables out of the way so the four had a rather big playing field.

"I can't believe you're going to do this, Hermione," Cailee said as Seamus walked into the center with her on his back.

"I am. It'll be fun," she said on Harry's back.

"Ready…set…go!" Dean yelled, stepping back from the area.

Cailee grabbed Hermione's arms and started pushing them backwards. Hermione was able to wrench one arm free and pushed Cailee hard in the chest. She toppled back, but Seamus reached up with his hands and steadied her back.

"Help me, Seamus," she said frantically as she started to tug on Hermione's arm, causing her robe sleeve to slip.

"Ok," he said, and pushed Harry brutally in the chest. Harry stumbled backwards, causing Hermione to loose her balance and fall forwards onto her stomach.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Cailee asked jumping off Seamus's back. She was surprised to see Hermione sit up and start laughing.

"I'm fine! That was so much fun! Let's do it again," she said, standing up and grabbing Harry's hand to pull him up.

"I want to play, come on Dean," Ginny said, grabbing Dean's hand and jumping on his back.

Cailee and Seamus sat back on the couch, her head resting on his shoulder, watching the rest of the chicken fights. Dean and Ginny stayed in three fights in a row before Ron and Lavender got in.

"I never knew how incredibly strong Dean was," Cailee said, watching him push Harry backwards so fiercely he fell on his back and Hermione skidded into a couch.

"Yeah, he likes to lift weights. It's supposed to help him with soccer, adds muscles or something," Seamus said, totally absorbed in cheering Dean on.

The chicken fights went on for a good hour before the guys called it quits and went upstairs, the girls following suit.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Cailee asked.

"Yes, I'm positive, keep your hands like this, and kick slightly, ok?" Ron said. Cailee was sitting on his broom, in the kick-off position. They decided to put her on Ron's broom because it was a Nimbus Two-Thousand, which was slower than Harry's Firebolt.

"Look, Harry will fly next to you, so you're safe. Why are you so scared?" Ron asked.

"It's new!" she yelled. "Fine, here I go." She closed her eyes and kicked up. She didn't open them for a few moments, and then looked down. She was just floating at the height above Ron's head, Harry lazily gliding next to her.

"This isn't too bad," she said, and leaned forward to go faster. When she was going faster, she closed her eyes again, this time because she couldn't stop. She yelled at Harry to make it stop; he leaned over his broom and grabbed the handle of hers.

"Thanks," she said, as they landed. "I like that. Let's go again!"

Cailee really took to Quidditch and flying. She flew around for fifteen minutes on Ron's broom, doing loop-the-loops, rolls, flying in and out of the Quidditch rings, and up and down real fast.

"I want to try your Firebolt, Harry!" she yelled at him as she zoomed past him.

"Are you sure?" he asked, stopping his Firebolt and watching her fly helter-skelter around the field.

"Positive!" she said breathlessly as she came to a rather dangerous stop in front of him.

Harry looked at Ron; Ron just shrugged his shoulders. "Okay," Harry muttered, getting off his broom. Cailee bounded off of Ron's broom and let it fall to the ground and hopped onto Harry's. She was off again.

"She is so good," Ron said, watching her soar straight up, then plummet down to the ground.

Cailee lay awake in bed that night, her kitten cuddled close to her, wondering about home and how far she had literally come since then. She had never known love, or anything like it, when she was at home. Now there was Malfoy. And what was it with this guy? Why did she like him?Because he was "off limits?" Cailee thought to herself, for what must be the hundredth time, that she needed to stay away. She didn't know all the importance to her task at hand, but she knew it was crucial for the downfall of Lord Voldemort. And she wanted to bring him down. She knew how he had hurt Harry and Harry's loved ones, and she only wanted to hurt him just as bad. And if she wanted that to happen, she needed to stay away from Malfoy, at least on an intimate level. She did think they were good friends, no matter how much their friendship was looked down upon and scorned and despised by others. Many guys did not want her around Malfoy. Cailee was sure they wanted her around them, but Cailee wouldn't let it happen. She wasn't going to let herself be used and bragged about as an achievement. And she didn't see Malfoy doing that to her. Which was why the two were so close. Malfoy didn't seem to parade her around, and she didn't do that to him. He knew that she wasn't his, so he didn't act like she was. And that was all good to Cailee's father, but not good enough for her. Respectful, but not good enough.

Thursday morning dawned dark and cold. There was a frost on the ground, and a light snow falling. Cailee couldn't believe it was all ready October, but she was excited. Her school year was progressing well, she had finally caught up in all her classes with homework, Professor McGonagall had at last finally seemed to get over her grudge with Cailee and accept her as a student. As she got ready with the other girls in her dormitory, she was in a very happy mood. Something felt right. She got this feeling, and her feelings were always correct, that today was going to turn out to be remarkable. She wasn't sure why though. She pulled on a Gryffindor sweatshirt, and pulled on some red track pants, then pulled her clean black robes over that. Once again, she admired the lion badge on her chest before going downstairs to breakfast.

"Good morning guys," she said, greeting Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean, along with Ginny and some of her friends. She sat down next to Seamus and started helping herself to food.

"Did you have fun flying yesterday?" he asked, grinning.

Cailee looked up at him. "Yes, I did. Why?"

"Oh no reason, honestly. Just wondering."

"Yes there is a reason!" Cailee said, grinning back, "You're smiling!"

"No there isn't! I heard that you were an excellent flier, and I was just wondering how you couldn't have flown before now, that's all."

"Who said I was an excellent flier?" she asked, looking up at Ron. He turned away, the tips of his ears going red.

"I'm not that good, Ron. You're probably better anyways."

"Cailee, you are good. That's what I told Seamus, that you were so good it's hard to believe you've never flown before now."

"Well, you better believe it, because I never have flown before, and don't plan on doing it again for a while," she said, looking up as the post came in. She never expected mail from home, but she always hoped for it. She continued eating her porridge when a brown owl interrupted her. She took the letter from its beak and opened it quickly.

_Watch out, back away, and leave him alone. _That's all it said. It was written in her father's handwriting though. She immediately guessed that Nicole had something to do with this. Nicole was very skilled in Occlumency, and had probably been reading Cailee's thoughts for the last month. She knew it had to do with her feelings for Malfoy. She ripped it up right then and there, she was so furious.

_Why can't anyone leave me alone? For the millionth time Father, I know! I know to stay away! I know to not get too close! I know it! Now will you please get off my back about this? I know what could happen if I let Malfoy get in the way! I'm old enough! Just leave it alone!_

* * *

To my reviewers, thanks so much! I'm doing a double post today because of you guys! And Desiree Champagne thanks so much for the compliment on my writing skills.


	9. Maroon Was Never My Color

_Chapter Nine_

_Maroon Was Never My Color_

No one talked to Cailee the first thirty minutes of class. They had all seen her rip up her letter, and they had all wondered what had made her so angry. They had never seen her like this, even when Pansy Parkinson called her a slut. And they didn't want her blowing up in their faces, so they let her simmer down.

Seamus had gotten a small fire going, with help from Hermione, to keep them, and their Benevalor's warm. It was still snowing, and the temperature around them was freezing. Hagrid had told them they needed to examine their animals for signs of sickness. As no one had been expecting the snow, and as one of the animals had already gotten really sick and was recuperating inside Hagrid's hut, he wanted to make sure none of them were getting sick.

"Mines fine," Cailee finally said, after looking it over, and noting in her journal that they were all supposed to keep, how her animal was doing.

"Mine too," said Ron, slamming his journal shut. His Benevalor immediately jumped into his lap and started licking Ron's face. Ron laughed and rolled backwards, and his pup jumped onto his chest and grabbed the scarf tied around Ron's neck and drug it off. Cailee's pup followed Ron's, and grabbed the other end so the two were playing tug-of-war. Cailee giggled. She jumped out of the snow and chased them around.

"Ah! I can't get it from them Ron, and their ruining it!" she squealed after she dived into the snow and they ran off.

Ron just laughed harder.

"Ron! It's your bloody scarf, do you not want it back?" she asked, giving up the chase and turning to look at him.

"Nah, not really. My mum made it a few Christmas's ago, and its maroon. I never liked maroon."

"Why didn't you tell me that?" she asked, running over to him.

"Cuz I haven't laughed so hard at something since this summer when Fred and George came and stayed a week. They pulled so many pranks on our mum; I'm surprised she didn't throw them out. Especially after they used permanent ink to doodle all over Lockhart's books and put a spell on the books so that when someone opened them, they shouted obscenities."

"RON!" Cailee screamed, and tackled Ron

"Ow! Ger—off—me!" he yelled, tugging at her around the waist to pull her down. He finally got a grip on her shoulders and flipped her around so that she was lying in the snow and he was leaning over her. She stared at him intently for a moment, breathing hard, and then he rolled away.

_'What was that all about? It was like she was reading my mind_,' Ron thought, staring at the Benevalors still wrestling away in the snow.

"Professor Dumbledore would like me to inform you about the upcoming Halloween feast. As you all know, we usually host a feast in the Hall, with entertainment from some of Hogwarts finest ghosts. This year, however, you have the Link Room. Dumbledore has given his consent for all classmen, 5th year and up, to attend a Halloween party in there. Your meals will be sent up there, and you are allowed to, how do I say it, let your hair down? Be yourselves, but uphold the Hogwarts standards," Professor McGonagall said.

A hushed whisper went up through the classroom, as everyone began to quickly talk about the upcoming party.

"Quiet, please! You still have one week until your party, and right now you're in class. So, textbooks out, review for your practical mini-exam. You have five minutes," she said, sitting behind her desk.

Cailee got out her book, and flipped to the tenth chapter. She re-read half of it, and reviewed all the incantations. She skipped the whole wand movement section, because she didn't need it. She whispered under her breath and tried to remember things she had been taught in class. She glanced over at Ron, and saw his eyes zipping across the pages at lightning speed and his hands fiddling with his wand. She reached out and put her hand on his leg, smiled, and whispered, "Its okay. You'll be fine." He smiled back weakly, and continued studying. Cailee removed her hand and looked over at Hermione, on her right. Hermione had her left hand on the corner of her book, but her right was no where to be seen. Cailee scooted her chair back a bit, and leaned around Hermione. Then she found out where her right hand was, it was clasped inside Harry's left hand. Cailee smiled, and scooted back in. She had known for a while that the two had feelings for each other, but she had waited it out to see what would happen.

"Miss Ooteropeia? Would you like to go first?" McGonagall asked, stepping out from behind her desk.

"Yes, ma'am." Cailee said, standing up also, and walking to the front of the room.

"Would you please demonstrate for the class how to transform this little piece of parchment into a bookshelf filled with books?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes ma'am," Cailee said again, reaching into her robes for her glass ball. All thirteen (**A/N**, earlier I said twelve, there is really 13) stars were twinkling. Cailee smiled. She concentrated hard on the task at hand, moving her finger around and around. Suddenly, in a flash of violet light, there stood a bookshelf with books inside it. The class broke into applause. McGonagall smiled, and wrote something down on her grade book.

The whole class continued on that way, all of them transforming objects of equal difficulty. It was a fairly easy, after you had performed your task, but Cailee was as relieved as everyone else when class was over.

Cailee and Hermione went and got their books for that afternoon, not in any hurry, and then went to the bathroom to take care of business and fix their appearance. Cailee didn't realize how much time they had taken, they didn't have much time to get all the way down to the Dungeon's in time, so they skipped going to the Great Hall and ran the whole way. They reached the classroom just as Snape was shutting the door.

"Ah, you decided to join us, I see," he said oily, shutting the door behind them. Cailee went and slumped down into her seat at the front near Malfoy. He gave her what's-up look, and she just shook her head.

"Well, I graded the essays I assigned you last week. I was not pleased. It seems this class, even though it _IS_ Advanced Potions, needs to go back to the basics. A simple Shrinking Potion should do it, right? After that, a Vanishing Toxin, and after that, I think a Sleeping Draught potion. Finish them by the end of class, or zero points for the day," he said. He didn't even bother flicking the directions up on the board. Cailee flipped through her book and found the ingredients for each. Then she got up and went to the student store-cupboard and grabbed what she needed.

After five minutes she was all ready halfway through her first potion. Malfoy was doing well, adding the right balances of each ingredient. She had taught him well. He might not need to be tutored anymore. She looked up and saw Seamus struggling. He was getting angry, the longer she watched. Finally, he kicked his cauldron and spewed its contents over the side onto the fire and everyone heard a loud hiss.

"Ah, Seamus. Another bout of anger? You do need to control that temper of yours. And, as your temper could turn to violence, I think ten points from Gryffindor will teach you not to lose your temper anymore," said Snape.

"You're such a—" Seamus said, but Dean had kicked him beneath the cauldron and he stopped talking. He glared angrily at Snape.

"I'm such a what?" Snape prodded. Seamus didn't answer.

"Well class, that just goes to show you how much bravery Gryffindors' really have," he said, swooping off as all the Slytherin's laughed.

"You're laughing at that? How could you? That was so low—" Cailee muttered to Malfoy.

"I…uh…" Malfoy stuttered, but couldn't finish.

"I don't poke fun at your House, I would expect the same from you," she said vehemently, and turned facing the other way at her cauldron so she didn't see Malfoy for the rest of class.

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Author's Notes: Probably one of my shorter chapters, but all the same, its a chapter. Keep reviewing and I will love you all forever! 


	10. There's About to Be a What? Girlfight

_Chapter Ten_

_There's About to Be A What? Girlfight._

"So are you going?"

"It's going to be so much fun!"

"I can't believe Dumbledore is doing this."

Everywhere Cailee turned, the talk in her Common Room centered on the Halloween Party. The students were so excited for it. Apparently, from the information Cailee gathered, they hadn't had a party since the Yule Ball in their 4th year. Well, at least a somewhat formal party, that the Weasley twins' weren't in charge of. From the way the students talked they seemed to greatly miss the twins' parties that would last from dusk-till-dawn whenever they felt like the Gryffindor's needed a party. Any such party included the time Fred got his first kiss from Angelina Johnson, when Fred and George and Lee Jordan managed to go one whole week without getting detention (all though that never happened again), and when George had knocked Malfoy unconscious during a Quidditch match.

Cailee was rather happy for it, too. Even though her classes and everything were going fine, she still felt she needed a break. Her daily ritual was getting quite boring. At home, every day brought new challenges, ideas, ceremonies, and celebrations. Her family was highly esteemed back home, they were practically worshipped. Cailee was used to being some what the center of attention, as she was the seventh of eleven children. And all though she wasn't the youngest, there was only a six year difference between her and her youngest brother Chris. It was always an exciting day when her two oldest brothers, Isaac and Jacob came home from the Order whatever. And even though Cailee could never get any information out of them intentionally about where they had been and what they had been doing, sometimes she would catch them in whispered discussions with her parents and overhear things she was certain she wasn't supposed to hear. Cailee had been only a few months old when The-Boy-Who-Lived did the one thing he was most famous for doing, defeating the Dark Lord. And Cailee and Harry lived in different realms, but Lord Voldemort did know about her realm, he wasn't stupid after all. There was no way he could possibly get into their realm, let alone their kingdom, so Cailee had lived a sheltered life from Voldemort and his supporters. She never had to worry about her family suffering, except when they were sent on missions to Harry's realm. What Cailee didn't understand was why Harry Potter was never brought to her realm to be protected. But, Cailee had grown up all her life hearing about Harry Potter and the things he had suffered through and been through. This was why Cailee was ready to undertake this task. She had never met Harry before coming to Hogwarts, yet she felt she knew him as she knew her brothers and sisters.

Cailee awoke the next morning and felt greatly refreshed, except one thing was weighing on her mind. She had been awfully short and terse with Malfoy yesterday in Potions, and she felt she needed to make up to him, since he was, after all, one of the major reasons she was here. Since it was Saturday, Cailee thought she might bump into him in the Library or something. But she wasn't about to go off searching for him just yet, not before she had showered.

She and Hermione went down into the Girl's bathroom at the bottom of their staircase. It was crowded in there and many Gryffindor girls were laughing and shouting and gossiping with their friends. But the bathroom was big, so there was enough room, even though it didn't seem like it at first. Cailee and Hermione walked over to the part of the wall that held the 6th years' belongings. She grabbed her towel and laid her clothing down on the shelf. She walked on over to the rows of shower stalls and found an empty one. There had to be at least fifty or sixty showers along the wall. This morning routine reminded Cailee of home, too. It was busy, you didn't really have time to think, and you just went with the flow. Cailee listened to the newest gossip floating around the school, and had to smile to herself. It was funny, really, the things that you sometimes heard. When she was done, she walked back across the room to her shelf. Hermione had traded shelves with some girl at the beginning of the year, so that her shelf could be next to Cailee's, and Cailee saw Hermione getting dressed. Cailee had been a bit weirded out about getting dressed in front of all these girls whenever she came down to use the showers, but no one else cared, so she had gotten over it.

"What's that?" Lavender asked Cailee.

"What? My shirt?"

"Yeah. You've never worn it before."

"A white beater. My sister got me hooked on them this summer." Cailee said. Tara had come home from a vacation this summer in this realm and had bought a bunch of white beaters. Cailee and her sisters weren't allowed to wear them out in the public eye, because no one needed to think that those in highest stature were a bunch of tramps.

"It's so cute!" Lavender squealed to Parvarti. Parvarti, however hopped up on the counter next to them, and swinging her legs asked Cailee very nonchalantly, "What's up with you and Malfoy?" Cailee stopped brushing her hair.

"Excuse me?" Cailee asked.

"I'm talking about yesterday. In Potions. Things seemed so tense between you two after Snape made that wisecrack to Seamus."

"I got mad at him, obviously. He was laughing at my house, and I'm not just going to take that. It's like he offended part of me when he did."

"So do you like him?"

Cailee's wand, that had been blowing hot air out of it to blow dry her hair, clattered to the ground.

"_Excuse me!_" she asked again. She started to panic. Was she really that obvious when she was with Malfoy?

"Excuse me?" Parvarti mimicked back. "Come on. It's obvious you like him, don't even give me that load of crap that you don't."

"Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't," Cailee said, picking her wand up and looking at her face in the mirror.

"Yeah, you do, Little Miss Princess." Parvarti said, angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Cailee asked, turning to look at her.

"Did I stutter? I'm sick of you, Cailee! The way you parade around, having every guy fall all over you, thinking you're so cool because you can do magic with your little ball, well I've—"

"WHAT? The way I parade about? Since when do I do that? Having guys fall all over me? Why are you being so thick?" Cailee asked, her hand tightening around her brush.

"You're kidding me right? You know that guys fall all over you, and you don't do anything about it. You flirt with every single guy in our House—"

"And since when is flirting a bad thing?" Cailee asked.

"It is when you're leading them on!"

"I'm not doing that!"

"Yes you are. Look what you're doing to Malfoy."

"I'm not doing anything to him. He's my friend, and I'm sorry you can't handle that," Cailee said, turning her back on Parvarti and gathering up her things.

"I can handle it, but Malfoy can't, not when you're going around, whoring with other guys!"

It was dead silent in the bathroom. Every girl was turned to look at Cailee and Parvarti. Cailee froze in mid-step, then turned slowly around, her eyes like ice.

"Say that again," Cailee snarled.

"You heard me. You're such a little whore, a tramp, a slut, and you don't even care. How many guys have you slept with? Was one of them Seamus?"

"Is that what your problem is, that I'm friends with Seamus? That I have the courage to actually talk to a guy, while you go and hide in a corner with your little girlfriend and whine to her that he doesn't pay attention to you? You're such a little wretch, I would pity you if you were worth my time, but you're not. It's disgusting, Parvarti, that you have to feel jealous of people because you're too frightened Seamus will laugh at you when you talk to him."

"You bi—" Parvarti hissed, jumping off the counter and running over to Cailee. Before she could get there, Hermione had jumped in the way, pointing her wand at Parvarti's chest.

"Back away, and shut your mouth unless you want me to hex you into next year," Hermione growled.

Parvarti stopped dead. She looked up at Cailee and said, "You're going to wish you had never come here when I'm through with you."

"Not again," Ron murmured to Harry as he watched Cailee come fuming into the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Wonder what her problem is today," Harry asked, as Hermione sat down next to him. Before Cailee sat down, she looked up and down the bench before plopping down next to Seamus.

"Oh no," Hermione whispered.

"What?" Harry asked her, putting his arm around her.

Hermione then told the boys of the confrontation that had gone on in the Girls Bathroom earlier. "And now she's just egging Parvarti on. Everyone knows she's had a crush on Seamus since third year."

"I can't believe Parvarti said that! I'm gonna get her! I don't care if we're in the same House, she's not going to go around and smear my best friend's reputation!" Ron stood up angrily, throwing down his napkin, and then Harry grabbed onto him.

"Calm down mate. You're not going to make it any better by beating her bloody. You're bound to get into trouble, and think about what your mum'll say when she's found out you beat up a girl. Not to mention what George and Fred would say, if they found out you had sunk that low."

Ron sat down, reluctantly.

After a few minutes, Hermione kissed Harry gently on the cheek and walked over to Cailee, and then the two of them walked outside.

Cailee didn't want to go back to the Common Room that night. But Harry and Ron told her that it would make her seem weak, if she didn't go up, like she was hiding, just how Cailee had accused Parvarti of doing. Then that would make her seem hypocritical, Harry pointed out. He received a look from Hermione that would rival the ones he'd seen on Snape when Snape looked at him. Harry promptly shut up after that. However, even though Cailee had agreed she would go up to the Common Room and would sleep in her dorm, she didn't leave until the Common Room was dead empty, Hermione close on her heels. She was still seething when she opened the door to her dormitory. Cailee changed swiftly, and went to pull back the sheets on her bed. Right in the middle of her pillow was a piece of paper. And on that paper, written right in the middle was one word: _Whore_. Cailee ripped it up, then strode over to Parvarti's bed, ripped open then hangings, and threw the pieces back onto Parvarti. "I was going to say the same thing to you, but I thought I should act like I had been raised, and not like some jealous little prat." Cailee yelled, and opened the door to her dormitory andstormed back to the Common Room.

Harry and Ron were still downstairs, talking quietly. Cailee ran over to the couch Ron was sitting on, jumped onto it, grabbed one of the pillows, smothered her face with it, and started screaming at the top of her lungs. Ron was thoroughly shocked. He gave Harry a look, and then glanced at Hermione, who could be seen coming down the stairs. Hermione looked at Cailee, looked upstairs, pulled out her wand, looked back up at the ceiling above her, and started muttering a list of some of the most gruesome curses she had ever learned.

"I'm going to kill Parvarti, I can't believe she has sunk this low. If anyone should be acting this way, it should be Cailee, after all the things Parvarti said to her. But Cailee didn't victimize her, or accuse her of whoring around, but Parvarti won't let this drop." Hermione said, sitting in a chair next to Harry, while Cailee continued to scream.

When Cailee finally removed the pillow from her face, her face was red and she was out of breath. She had some tears in her eyes, and she was clenching and unclenching her jaw. Ron put his arm around her, and pulled her to him, and Cailee finally cracked. She started crying on Ron's shoulder, dampening his shirt rapidly, and she continued to cry while they all soothed her.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, when she had regained her composure. "You guys probably think I'm a little baby that can't handle this. And you especially Harry. You've dealt with so much in this last year alone, everyone from the Minister of Magic on down to the Daily Prophet have been slandering you for a long time, and you took it. And now, I can't even handle it one day. But it's new for me. Back home, no one acted like this to anyone. We were all just...I don't know, kind and gentle and respectful of each other. And now there's this mess. I hate it." She sniffled, before curling up in a ball, still resting on Ron's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Cailee. You know no one is going to side with Parvarti on this. She's been rude and snobby since she came here in her first year. Everyone love's you. You're friendly with everyone, and she isn't. Don't worry, it will all blow over soon enough," Harry said.

"Yeah, thanks Harry."

"No problem. But you need to get some sleep, you've been too stressed today."

"I am NOT going back up to my dorm!" Cailee said.

"You could sleep down here. But you wouldn't get much sleep, seeing as how students are going to start getting up in about five or six hours time," Ron added.

"Well. . . maybe you could sleep in our dorm," Harry said, looking at Hermione.

"Yeah, it could work. I mean, there's nothing in _Hogwarts: A History_ that says it would be a bad thing or inappropriate. In fact, I can't think of any rule stating that it's not aloud." She said.

"Okay then, follow us," Ron said, him and Harry leading the way.

They walked into the boys dorms, and flipped on a light. None of the other three boys stirred in their sleep.

"So. . .uh, where is everyone sleeping?" Harry asked.

"You can sleep in my bed Cailee—"Ron started.

"_RONALD WEASLEY!"_ Hermione shouted.

"—and I can sleep on the floor, and Herm, you can sleep in Harry's bed, and he'll sleep on the floor too." Ron finished, glaring at her.

"Oh. . .um, thanks Ron for that wonderful idea," Harry said, looking sad.

"No, Harry, you can sleep on your bed with me too. . ." Hermione looked up at the icy stare Ron was giving her.

"No, never mind, that wouldn't work anyways. Ok, boys on the floor," Hermione said, magicking mattresses and blankets for them. They all said their goodnights, and promptly fell into bed, Cailee staying up long afterwards thinking of home.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **You know that no story is complete without a good arguement or two. Sorry it's been like a week since my last update! But please, review for this chapter and tell me what you think. Also, in Chapter 11, you all get to learn a bit more about Cailee's family, so that's going to help some of the peices fall together! 


	11. Who Works For the Order?

All right, here's what you've all been waiting for. . . a little history about Cailee's family, and just the teeniest hint about why she's here. Hope it can satisfy you!

_Chapter Eleven_

_Who Work's For the Order?_

Monday couldn't have come quickly enough for Cailee. She had spent all of Sunday out of the Common Room, and just wandering around with Hermione,

Harry, Ron, Seamus and Dean made her feel better. Cailee had told Seamus and Dean about her argument with Parvarti, and just as Harry had said, they sided with her, calling Parvarti a bunch of rude names they surely would never have said in front of their parents.

"I've never liked her! And she's had a crush on me? EW! Why did anyone never tell me?" Seamus ranted as they roamed around the large lake for the second time.

"Sorry mate. We'll fill you in next time, though," Ron said, punching him on the shoulder.

"Thanks Ron. It's a bit too late though, we only have a year left here anyways. But if we end up working together or something, you'll tell me then won't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's weird to think we only have a year left here. Well, two actually, counting this one," Hermione said. " I still don't know what I want to be."

That got everyone talking about their careers and where they wanted to go in the future. Cailee was quiet throughout it all because she knew her future wasn't going to be here, as far as she was told. At the end of this year, when her mission was accomplished, she would return home. She might come back here when she was older to find a husband maybe, if her father allowed her, but their marriages were to be prearranged. Isaac and Jacob should be married already, they were 24 and 25, but since they spent a lot of time with the Order, their father didn't think it would be right for them to get married and spend so much time away from home.

"I want to play soccer." Dean said.

"That's it? How are you going to make any money?" Ron asked, perplexed. "I mean, life's not all fun and games . . . and someday Fred and George are going to have to learn that," Ron added to himself.

"Ron, I can make money. Just like the Quidditch players play for international teams and make money, playing Quidditch as their job, I can travel internationally and play soccer as my job. I'm going to have a hard time getting on a team, seeing as I haven't been recognized by any of the scouts, since I've been here during soccer season. I can only play soccer during the summer when I'm home, which bites," Dean said.

"I like soccer," Cailee said. Everyone looked at her. Cailee was sure they had all forgotten about her, since she had been so quiet.

"You play?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, at home. Me and all my brothers and sisters. Well, not Isaac and Jacob because they're away a lot, but the rest of us do," she said, looking at him as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How can you play? Don't you only have like two or three brothers and sisters?" he wondered.

Cailee started laughing. "No, I don't have only two or three brothers and sisters. Try like ten or eleven brothers and sisters," she said, still giggling.

"Ten? And eleven?" Ron gulped. "Whoa, that's a lot. I mean, I have five brothers and a sister, and I thought that was a lot. Man, your parents have been busy," he said.

"Ten? That's crazy! Why have you never mentioned them before?" Seamus asked.

"No one else has talked about their home, so I thought I probably shouldn't talk about mine," she said, honestly. And she didn't talk about them because she didn't want to remember them.

"Okay, well, were asking now, so give us some answers. Tell us about your family. You always say stuff like, 'Back home, this was never a problem. Back home, I already learned this,'" Hermione said, sitting down and making a motion for them all to sit down too.

"No, thanks," Dean said.

"Yeah, me and Dean need to catch up on our Herbology project. . .that's due tomorrow," Seamus said, and he and Dean retreated back to the castle, casting them longing looks as they went.

"So, tell us about them," Ron said.

"Okay, well, Isaac is the oldest, and he's 25. Then there's Jacob, and he's 24. Then Amanda, and she's 21, and then Caleb and Jonathon, who are twins are both 19, Tara is 17, then there's me, and then Mark is 15, Brandi is 14, Nicole is 12, and Chris is 10. And I don't know, what else do you want to know?" Cailee asked.

"Well, you said your two older brothers. . .Isaac and Caleb—"

"Isaac and Jacob?" Cailee interjected.

"Yes, those two. You said their gone from home a lot. How come?" Hermione asked.

'_Oh snap.. Look what you've gone and done. Now their all going to find out that your brothers have been working for almost two years against the Dark Lord.'_ One part of her thought.

But the other part of her said, '_So what? They know about the Order thing. That's why Harry's been in so much pain these last few months, his only thing close to a father has been killed, while working for the Order. So tell them, you know they won't betray you.'_

"Ok, what I'm going to tell you guys, you have to swear never to tell anyone, ever." She said, looking at them all. They all nodded, saying "Swear."

"All right, Isaac. . .Isaac and Jacob work for the Order," she stuttered out.

Hermione's jaw dropped all the way to the ground. Cailee didn't even know that it was humanly possible for someone's eyes' to get as big as Ron and Harry's did.

"What?" Cailee asked.

"For the Order. . ."Hermione looked around, and whispered some more, "the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Yeah, so?" Cailee asked.

"Do you know what the Order is?" Ron asked.

"It's a bunch of people working against the Dark Lord and his supporters."

"And…" Hermione prompted.

"And what?"

"These people risk their lives everyday. Three of the teachers here are active in the Order. Four, actually. And Ron's two oldest brothers are. I can't believe you never came by Grimmauld Place. I'll bet we've seen your brothers there," Hermione said.

"Yeah, what do they look like?" Harry asked.

"Well, Isaac has dirty blond hair. And he's really tall. He's quiet too, but he knows what he's doing. He loves to play though, usually some sort of sport or something. And then, Jacob, well, Jacob is loud. That's it. Him and Isaac look more like twins than Caleb and Jonathon do. Jacob is always the one to crack jokes, but he's serious when he has to be," Cailee said.

"Yes! I know them!" Ron cried. "Harry, remember, we played football this summer with them and Fred, and George, and Bill? Remember, in the upstairs, where Fred and George sleep. And mum yelled at us 'cuz we accidentally pushed Ginny down the stairs when she came up to get us for dinner? And George did this spectacular dive, and he pushed Jacob down one of the flights of stairs, and he left this huge dent in the wall where he crashed into it?"

"I do! I remember that! You're brothers are so awesome!" Harry said.

"They only came by a few times when you were there, Herm, so I doubt you saw them," Ron added.

"Wait. Bill, is your brother?" Cailee asked, snapping her fingers.

"Yeah. Bill Weasley. Notice, we have the same last name," Ron said.

"I met Bill. He came to the Leaky Cauldron with Jacob and Isaac to drop me off at the end of summer when I was staying there. He has the long ponytail right?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's Bill all right. You obviously haven't seen him recently. Mum cut his hair while he was sleeping and he threw a right fit about it. Wouldn't even talk to her for a few days. Then he went and got it trimmed up in Diagon Alley 'cuz she did it so horribly," Ron sniggered at the memory.

The four of them continued to talk well until dinner time. Cailee was feeling better that night, and when she went to bed on Sunday, there was no unprovoked attack by Parvarti. Cailee cuddled up into bed with Schnitzy, her kitten, and a horrible thought struck her. Parvarti hadn't apologized, which clearly indicated she wasn't over this little feud of theirs. But she had seemed so calm today, surely she couldn't still be angry. Cailee was very anxious to see why Parvarti was holding out on her, and what she was going to do.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope that helped you guys. It's not much to totally figure out Cailee's family, but hopefully this helps her seem not so much as a strange character and more like someone we already know. Up next, the party! And you know the drill. . . . .review, ReViEw, REVIEW! And I will post more sooner! 


	12. I Know How to Play Games Like That

_Chapter Twelve_

_I Know How to Play Games Like That_

Cailee, Hermione, and Ginny got ready for the party in Cailee and Hermione's dorm. Parvarti and Lavender had gone to the showers shortly after Cailee and Hermione and Ginny returned from them, and they hadn't come back yet.

"Don't you think its kind of odd that we can't wear costumes to this Halloween party?" Cailee asked, brushing her hair.

"No, not really. I mean, when were we going to get our costumes anyways? There's not a Hogsmeade trip until the end of November, a month from now," Ginny said. "And were not allowed off Hogwarts grounds."

"Oh, I guess that's true then," Cailee said. "Hmm, Hermione, we needsomething in here to get ready at," Cailee said, noticing there was only one mirror, on their wardrobe.

"Okay," she said, and she transfigured their two night stands, and Ambers' into three vanities.

"You're so good, Hermione, with Transfiguration," Ginny squealed, sitting down at one.

Cailee sat down at the one by her bed. She did her make-up, adding extra sparkles to her eyes and cheeks, since she felt this was going to be a partying night. She wasn't quite sure how to wear her hair, so she decided to get dressed first, and then decide.

"Ginny, what are you wearing tonight?" Cailee asked, as she still had no idea what she wanted to wear. Ginny pointed to Hermione's bed, where her clothes were laid out. She had picked a red halter top anda black skirt.

"Are you sure Ron won't go berserk if he sees his little sister in this?" Cailee asked, giggling.

"He'll get over himself," she said laughing too.

"Hey, Hermione—" Cailee started, but she turned around to see Hermione in her party outfit. She hadn't even noticed Hermione change. She was wearing a white beaterthat had sparkles all over it. She then choose some hip-hugging black Capri's, with cute high heels. Cailee had never seen anyone look so good in Capri's and high heels. Not to mention the high heels made Hermione appear slimmer and taller.

"Wow! Okay, the outfit is perfect, but YOU absolutely have to let us do something to your hair," Ginny said, tugging Hermione over to her vanity and sitting her down.

Cailee and Ginny laughed with Hermione as they made some alternate changes to her hair. Twenty minutes later they were done. Hermione now had sleek, shiny hair, that was done up in a messy bun. Cailee had added a few pink and blue stone clips through her hair, and added a little bit of sparkles. Ginny continued to do Hermione's make up, while Cailee changed.

"Does this look all right?" She asked, after debating with herself for ten minutes about what to wear.

"It's so cute!" Hermione and Ginny said together. Cailee had picked out a pink shoulder-less top that had a small blue flower to the left on her chest, and glitter swirls all around it. She paired that with a white mini-skirt and some rhinestone studded flip flops.

Cailee decided to loosely curl her hair into beach-y waves (think Mary Kate and Ashley), then pull two small pieces of hair from each side and use one of the same stone clips as Hermione had to hold them together. Ginny's hair looked way cute, too. She had it parted down the center, and in the middle of the part on each side she had taken a bit of hair and braided it about 2 inches down. Then just behind the piece she had started braiding, she grabbed some more hair and started braiding it. Then when that one was about 2 inches down, she braided the two pieces together. It looked good because her hair was sleek and smooth and framed her face.

"Ready, girls?" Ginny asked, linking arms through Cailee and Hermione and walking downstairs.

Harry, Ron, Seamus, and Dean were all waiting for them. Harry looked only at Hermione, as though he couldn't believe the bushiness was gone. Dean was staring at Ginny, with his mouth a little open. He started to whistle but then Ron shoved him in the side so hard that he stumbled sideways. Seamus was looking at Cailee longingly, his eyes wide. Cailee was aware that everyone still in the Common Room, Parvarti and Lavender included, had stopped to stare at their entrance. Cailee thought up in her head, Harry and Hermione, Dean and Ginny, me and Seamus, Ron and ? She wasn't sure. And Cailee did like Seamus more than she liked Ron, Ron was her best friend, and she didn't want to lead him on. Plus, their friendship was above that. Ron and who? She thought again. She knew Amber, from their dorm, had a slight crush on Ron, but as far as she knew, they had never talked. And anyways, this wasn't a party they were supposed to have dates to anyways, so she let it drop. But she felt instantly guilty when Seamus walked over to her and laced his fingers through hers as they walked out of the portrait

It was silent in the corridor outside the Link Room, other than the people chatting. She wondered why she couldn't hear music. Dean and Ginny opened the door first, and music blasted into their ears. _Clever, _she thought, _a Silencing Charm._

It was dim inside. There were jack-o-lanterns and candles and bats floating along the ceiling. There were bowls of candy at the tables. There had always been a refreshment counter along one wall, and now that was turned into a buffet. The center of the room was the most lit, as it was the dancing floor. In corners around the room were tables for people to sit at, and some of the couches had been left behind. There were fake cobwebs in the corner, and skeletons, and a few ghosts popped in and out, looking thoroughly displeased. Cailee guessed that Dumbledore had them going through every now and then to check up on them.

"The house elves did a good job decorating!"Seamus yelled, walking towards one of the tables. Ginny left Dean to go sit with some of her friends for a little while. The other six sat around the table giggling and laughing. Cailee noticed Pansy Parkinson trying to get some 7th year to freak dance with her. She kept going down low, but the boy just stared at her like she was disgusting and walked off. Cailee looked around for Draco, but didn't see him. They had made up during Potions one class, and were back to being friends.

"Come on Cailee," Seamus said, reaching for her hand and pulling her onto the dance floor, right into the middle of it. Just then a fast song came on, and Seamus started grinding. Cailee smiled.

"Seamus! You're full of surprises!" She said, laughing, going down low, and back up a few times.

"You too!" he said.

"And you know what's weird? I've never freaked danced before!"

They kept going like that for a while until a slow song came on, and Seamus pulled her close to him.

_He smells so good!_ She thought. _OH MY GOSH! What are you doing? Are you leading him on, just like Parvati said? Of course not! Yes, you are. You like him, because he's convenient and he's around. But as soon as Mafloy shows up, your going to be with him and leave Seamus all alone._

Cailee pushed all those thoughts out of her mind, and just cuddled closer to Seamus.

"Come on Ginny!" Cailee said, giggling. "It's so much fun, and you look like you know how to dance!" she said, pleading to get her onto the dance floor. Dean had already agreed to go, and was standing in front of her, waiting.

"Fine," she said, stifling a laugh. "Ron's gonna get mad though."

"He'll get over himself," Cailee said, and gave Ginny a look.

"Whoa! She can move," Seamus said, stopping grinding with Cailee to look at Ginny.

"Wow! Yeah, she can!" Cailee said, watching Ginny. It looked like she had been dancing like that for years. Dean had his hands on her hips, and she was leaning back against him and grinding, and sometimes running her hands through her hair, other times placing them on Dean's butt. Cailee looked over at Ron, but he was doing the same thing with some Ravenclaw she had never talked to.

Cailee turned around facing Seamus, and put her leg between his, and he did the same. Cailee had never had so much fun before. She briefly thought of what her father would say, but Cailee pushed that out of her mind, reminding herself that she was just having fun.

"Excuse me," Malfoy said, tapping Seamus on the shoulder, "but can I cut in?" Seamus looked at Cailee, who nodded, and Malfoy pulled her close to him during the next slow song. He was so strong, the way his hands rested on her hips and held her tightly. She rested her head against his shoulder and tickled the back of his neck with her fingers.

"So, you and Seamus?" he asked softly, his words whispering into her ears.

She pulled away and looked up at him. "What do you mean?" she asked

"I was just wondering," he said, pulling her back, "if there's something going on between you two?"

"If there was, I wouldn't be with you now, would I?" she asked him.

"I guess not, but I'm glad you're here," he said, and kissed her ear gently.

"Me too," she whispered back.

Cailee really got into the fast songs after that. Malfoy was a ladies man, and he knew how to dance dirty, and Cailee wanted to impress him. So she pulled some of the same moves as Ginny, resting her hands on his butt, and letting him hold her hips, and stuff like that. But after a while, she got a drink, and then started dancing with other guys. She met a really nice guy, Brian, from Ravenclaw who had a body to rival Malfoy's. She danced a little more with Seamus, some with Dean, and with a lot of the 7th year Gryffindor guys. Brian came back to her, and they probably spent twenty minutes on the dance floor together, before Ron cut in for a while.

Pretty soon it was ten o'clock, and the 5th years had left for curfew, leaving most of the sixth years. More than half of the seventh years had left to study for their mid-term the next week. Cailee was surprised, but excited to find out that not long afterwards it was only sixth years.

Hermione went to the bathroom, and when she came back out, she looked panicked.

"Herm, what's wrong?" Harry asked her as she sat down.

"Cailee, there are some Hufflepuffs in the bathroom." She said.

"Yeah, so? They're allowed in there," Ron said.

"Cailee, they're talking about you."

"What? What are they saying?" Cailee asked.

"That you. . .um, well, to put it lightly, that you're a tramp and tonight alone you slept with Dean, Seamus and Brian."

"WHAT?" she jumped up, looking around at Parvarti.

"Cailee, now listen. I don't want you to freak out, but I think everyone, most of the houses, all ready know."

"How?" she asked.

"Because, the Hufflepuffs are always last to know, always," she said.

Cailee got up, a glint in her eye, and strode into the bathroom. Hermione was right. There were quit a few girls in their from Hufflepuff, but also Ravenclaw, and Pansy Parkinson. Cailee groaned and left again.

She saw, not long afterwards, Pansy go pull Malfoy into a corner and start whispering to him. Then he looked up and looked at Cailee, then turned away and smiled. Cailee tried not to let this put a damper on her evening, they'd only been here two hours, and Dumbledore hadn't put a curfew on the party, much to some of the teachers disapproval.

After a while, it seemed to blow over, so she started dancing again with a few of the guy friends she had made. She was horrified, then, when Ron stumbled up to her with a look like he'd been Petrified.

"What now?" she asked, afraid of what everyone was saying about her.

"Malfoy. . . he, I. I heard him, talking to Crabbe and Goyle and his Quidditch captain. He said, since. . .since you had been with a few of the guys tonight, he was going to try and nail you too."

Cailee was panic stricken! One, how could Malfoy believe such a hideous lie that Parvarti and her friends had made up, and two, she thought she trusted him more than that, thought she believed him to be her friend, not her boyfriend.

Fine, if he was going to mess with her, she was going to mess with him.

Most of the people had sat down now, and weren't dancing, they were probably getting tired. It had been a little more than three hours now, and Cailee was wearing herself out.

Pansy stood in the center of the room.

"Everyone! Hey, listen to me! Since most of you aren't dancing, why don't we play a game?"

"Like what?" someone called out.

"Like Truth-or-Dare," she said back, and people started to snicker.

"Anyone who wants to, come over here."

Cailee, after living with Jacob all her life, was up for it. She wanted to have fun, she deserved a break, and never mind what everyone was saying. She remembered something she heard Mark say to her once, "Do what you want to and act how you want to,because the people that mind it don't matter, and the people that matter don't mind it." And that's what she was going to do. Seamus and Ron went with her, and Harry and Hermione stayed on a couch talking, with some other people who didn't want to play either.

The game started out rather slow: "Seamus, is it true you slept with Cailee tonight? NO!" "Brian, do you really have a fear of spiders? Yes." "Kelsey, who do you like? James Perkins," stuff like that. Then it heated up to," Pansy, I dare you to freak dance with Malfoy." "Kyle, I dare you to go streaking through here." "Mandy, I dare you to give Derek a hickey." Finally, the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Derek Bole turned to Malfoy and said, "I dare you to make out with Cailee. Take as much time as you need, we'll keep the game going," he said, and when Malfoy walked by him, he smiled wickedly.

Malfoy lead her to the cloak closet by the bathrooms. He opened the door, and followed her in. Cailee, not the one to usually walk into a dark trap like this, lit her wand. She could see Malfoy looking at her, looking a little put out that she had brought on some light, but not about to say anything.

"Cailee, you look so hot tonight," he said, placing his hands on her hips and pulling her close.

"You too, Malfoy. You're wearing your hair like I like it," she said smiling. He smiled too before placing his mouth over hers. She put her arms up and around his neck, and he placed his arm on her waist and leaned her backwards for a little bit, before straightening her back up. He put his hands on her butt, and then moved them back up to her waist, and tried to slip one inside her skirt. She moved her hands and placed his back on her hips, and said "Malfoy, don't," without entirely breaking the kissing. He held his hands there for a while, and then he moved them up her front, slowly, tickling her stomach. Then he slipped one inside her top, but didn't touch anything. She pulled his hands away again, and said, "No, Malfoy, I'm not like that." He kept them resting on her upper back, and put them on her waist. All at once he leaned her backwards again, and reached for her zipper. Cailee was ready for this. Right when he reached, she pulled her knee up into his groin, hard. He fell over, curled in the fetal position, whimpering.

She leaned close to him and whispered, "No, Malfoy, I'm not like that, I'm not a tramp. No, I haven't slept with any guys tonight, and no, I'm not that easy to nail," she said, repeating the last words with sarcasm and stepping out of the room.

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**Author's Notes:** I'm not sure what the Slytherin Quidditch captains name is, I thought it was Derek Bole, but I'm not sure. Also I'm having this issue with the name of the T-shirts that Cailee and Hermione wear. Are they called "Wife beaters" or "White beaters?" I don't know so I go with white, because it sounds nicer. Thank you Desiree for the review, keep them coming! I only update after you review! so REVIEW, everyone! 


	13. Rumors

_Chapter Thirteen_

_Rumors_

Cailee did not want to look at Malfoy ever again. After the incident in the closet, she promptly left the party, and the others followed her. She told them all in the Common Room what had happened, and Ron and Seamus used some of the foulest words they knew on him while Dean was flipping through his DADA book, looking for the most ghastly curses they knew.

"But good for you Cailee! You didn't let him get you like he has so many others," Hermione said.

Cailee nodded, but she still felt used in a way.

She had Potions the Wednesday following the party, four days after it had happened, on November 4th. She walked into class and saw Malfoy standing with some his friends, talking. He looked at her, but she walked right past him up to Professor Snape's desk.

"Professor, could I ask you something? Since Malfoy is getting better in Potions, may I please be moved over next to Seamus, he needs my help more than Malfoy does," she said.

He seemed to think about it for a while. "Yes, that would be best. Seamus needs a lot of help, and in the meantime I think I'll move Malfoy back next to Pansy," he said, looking up at his class and sending sparks into the air from his wand tip. They all sat down, and Cailee knew Malfoy was watching her as she moved her stuff next to Seamus's.

"I'm glad that stupid git moved you away from Malfoy. I would have strangled him if he did anything to you," Seamus muttered, flipping through his book bag to get out his homework. Snape collected it, and put up their new potion on the board. He seemed to approve of their potion work, and had decided to put them back on track with the right syllabus. Cailee forgot everything that had happened over the weekend, and laughed herself insane at the things Dean and Seamus were pulling on each other.

"You guys are just like Fred and George," Ron said, as he pulled himself off the floor where he had been rolling around laughing.

"And you and Harry aren't?" Hermione asked him, smirking. Harry and Ron just shrugged their shoulders and looked away.

Cailee, Ron, and Harry parted ways with Hermione after lunch as they headed across the hall to Divination, while she headed off to Ancient Runes.

They had progressed from Star Gazing, and were now working on reading someone's history by knowing only a few facts about them, like their birth date, place of birth, hair color, and age. Firenze had made cards and put them into a hole in one of the trees, and they had to pull a card out, and go work with that person. Cailee was paired up luckily with Brian, who smiled at her.

"I bet I can guess her history," said someone loudly, and Cailee froze. She had heard Parvarti's voice. "Her _private _history isn't so private anymore, since everyone knows she's been sleeping with Dean behind Ginny's back, and they know she got with Malfoy on Saturday. Whore."

Brian looked furious. He looked up at Parvarti, and made some rude hand gestures, before returning to work. He consoled Cailee consistently while Parvarti kept up an endless stream of rude comments.

"Why don't you just shove off!" He finally yelled. "Leave her alone and stop being such a whiney prep! She hasn't done ANYTHING to you, so get off her case! If you can't get a guy because you're such a little prat, is no reason for you to go around insulting her! If I find out you have said anything more to her, you're going to wish you'd never heard of Hogwarts, understand me?" he shouted in her face, towering over her. She gulped and nodded, and turned her back and started crying to Lavender.

"I meant what I said, Cailee. Even though I've only known you a few days, it's like I've known you forever. You're such a sweet girl, and you don't deserve what she's giving you. So tell me, okay? I know friends in high places," he said smiling, a twinkle in his blue eyes she had never noticed before. He had twin brothers in seventh year, and he was the most popular in his house with bunches of friends, that if he said so, would go hex Parvarti into next week without thinking twice.

Needless to say, the rest of that week did not go well. In Herbology, some of the Hufflepuffs, and some of the more preppie ones, were making snide comments behind Cailee's back, loud enough so she could hear them.

"You and Malfoy having _fun_ together?" one boy asked her during that class. Afterwards, Ron, Seamus, and Dean started a fight with him after class as they were making their way back to the castle. Dean was sent to the Hospital Wing to be treated for small boils that had started breaking out all over his body. But other than that, her friends were fine. As far as she knew, the other boy still hadn't woken up in the Hospital Wing, and if anyone found out who started the fight she knew Ron, Dean, and Seamus would be in a crap load of trouble.

Care of Magical Creatures on Friday was not any better. Not only did everyone in that class think she was a tramp, other than the Gryffindors, she found out Malfoy had been going around and telling everyone he had nailed her at the party.

"Yes, she's very good, if you know what I mean," Ron overheard him saying to Bole. "I'll bet she'll teach you some things, Bole, if you wanted to know, for a price." He said, and started laughing. Ron shot a curse at him from behind one of the crates of Benevalors. Cailee didn't learn of this until afterwards because she and Harry were inside Hagrid's hut brewing some specific medicine for their pups because theirs weren't eating, or playing, and seemed pretty lifeless.

Cailee finally recieveda break from the endless torment from her peers. Saturday was the first Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. Cailee was fascinated by the game, as she had never seen it played before. _That's it, _she decided, _I'm going to become a medic-witch so I can look after these players._ Ginny was really good as a Chaser, better than the other two on her team. She scored most of the goals, and they were up 60-20.

"OOHH!" A shout rang up through the crowd. Harry and the Hufflepuff seeker were in a nose-dive, neck and neck to get the Snitch. Harry veered sharply to his right, knocking the other Seeker off course, and clasped the Snitch in his hand. Hufflepuff still got a penalty shot for the foul Harry caused, but Gryffindor still won.

It was crazy in the Common Room that night.

"I don't see why, though," Hermione said. "Seeing as how they've won almost every game they've ever played. You'd think they'd get bored of it after a while."

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**Author's Notes: **Sorry this chapter was so short. But don't worry, I'm almost finished with the whole story, so keep reviewing and you'll get it sooner! 


	14. Since the Second War is Coming

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's Everyone! For those of you who celebrate today, I hope it was fantastic and that you enjoyed it very much. So as a treat, and my Holiday gift to my reviewers, TWO posts! Enjoy!

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_Chapter Fourteen_

_Since the Second War is Coming_

Defense Against the Dark Arts was Cailee's most favorite class. Professor Lupin was as good as it gets, he was the best teacher she had ever had. The mock battle they had on the first day of class was awesome, and it had continued like that.

Today, they were learning about Craec's. Craec's were about the size of a dog, lived mostly in the dark, and could cause instant death if you looked one in the eye. Which was why they didn't have a real one in class. Lupin had split them up previously in groups of four about three weeks ago. So they sat in a square with their desks, and in the middle of their desks stood a large aquarium of different animals they were studying. There were three different varieties of species in there; a miniature mermaid and merman, named after the others, Merpeople minors; a type of swimming dog with flippers instead of legs and paws; and a singing fish. None of them were even half the size of Dobby the house-elf, but Cailee's favorite was the singing fish. It swam around with bubbles spilling out of its mouth sometimes; that was the fish singing, if you wanted to hear it, you had to either put your head in the tank with it, or point your wand at it and draw the music out of its mouth as it sang it; the wand pulled the music out so you could hear it without getting wet. They had almost finished up their unit with the aquatic creatures, and that's why they were starting the Craec's.

Cailee sat in a group with Seamus and Dean and Amber. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had been put in another group. Cailee was becoming close friends with Amber, one of the more popular girls in their year. Even though they shared a dorm, they didn't talk too often. Usually because Amber was sneaking off to hang out with her friends, or to "late night studying sessions." No one believed that, especially not Cailee, since, one time on accident, she had stumbled in on Amber and her "tutor" in an empty classroom during a very heated moment. She had turned away without saying anything, and Amber still didn't know she had seen them. But still, Amber was nice. She didn't judge others like some of her friends seemed too. Some of her friends were hesitant about hanging out with Cailee because they were jealous, but that hadn't bothered Amber. Amber was pretty herself and wasn't insecure in any way with being friends with Cailee.

"So these. . .Cracks—" Dean started.

"Craec's," Professor Lupin corrected automatically as he walked by the groups.

"Right, so, they're kind of like Basilisks?"

"Yes, they are. I'm glad someone made that connection. Basilisks, and Craec's, are both deadly to look at. So, can anyone tell me a way to prevent yourself against one?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Look around corners with mirrors!" Hermione said, her hand shooting up in the air.

"Good one."

"How about, don't go near one?" some one asked.

"Yeah. But lets say—let's say, since the second war is coming, your faced against the Dark Lord," his eyes shifted over to Harry's for a minute, who met his stare straight on, "and, most of us know snakes are his favorites, he has one, does he not, Harry?"

"He does," Harry croaked out. Many of the class stared at him.

"So, you're faced against him, and he conjures a Craec, or maybe a Basilisk even. How will you defeat it?" No one answered. Not even Hermione.

"It's not easy. Both are made of tough skin and scales, and are rather evasive. Avarda Kedavra could work, true, but so could a Serpensortial Hex. Now, please look through your books, and as a group, come up with a list of twenty five ways you can stall, and eventually kill off one of the two animals. And then, I have a treat for you," he said, glancing to a closet whose doorknobs rattled dangerously.

* * *

"Ron, you're _still _afraid of spiders?" Hermione asked. The whole class had gotten a go at the boggart in the closet, which was turned into a Craec when they each went up against it.

"Yes, I am," he snapped, poking at his lunch. "And so what about it?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering."

"Yeah, well Cailee's afraid of dark sky. OOH, what's so scary about that?" Ron asked.

"No, its not a dark sky. It's a sky without stars, thank you," she said.

"Yeah, and?"

"I have my reasons. If you need to know them, I'll tell them to you, but now you don't need to know," she said, taking a bite of her soup. It had started to snow again, and it was cold inside the castle.

"At least we don't have any classes outside today," Harry said, as he looked up at the ceiling, a dark gray.

"Yeah, but we have Transfiguration. What's so great about that?" Ron mumbled, spearing his green beans with his fork and jamming them into his mouth.

"It wouldn't be so hard Ron, if you actually paid attention in class," Hermione said. If looks could kill, Ron wouldhave beenin the grave.

"Quiet! Settle down! I think you'll all be interested to hear this," Professor McGonagall said at the end of their class.

"Starting in January, you will get an unusual opportunity to intern at a job you would like to have a career in. A sign up sheet will be going around, so please place down three jobs you are interested in.A few timesa week you will have someone from your Career field come up to the school, and you will join them in classes. You will learn from them, and treat them as you would me. In April, May and June, some of you, depending on what you chose, will get to leave the school once a week and actually intern at your job. It's here to help you realize what you want to go for in the future and help you realize if what you wanted to be last year when you took your O.W.L.s isn't what you still want to be. If it isn't, you can come talk to me, and we'll just get you going in the right direction with your N.E.W.Ts, so please—"McGonagall went on, but the signup sheet had come to Cailee.

_Cailee Ooteropeia 1-Quidditch Medic witch 2-Healer 3-Soccer player_

She probably should have chosen something more witchlike, but this is what she really wanted to do. If McGonagall had a problem with her doing it, she would talk to her. Cailee passed the list onto Dean who looked up at Cailee, smiled, and said, "Me too." He was talking about soccer.

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**Author's Notes:** I hope this chapter is good enough for you guys! I'm on my Christmas break from school, and I don't go back until January the ninth, so hopefully there will be plenty of updates between now and then. But only if you review! 


	15. Don't Say Sorry If You Meant It

**Get ready** for a long chapter! Here's the second bit of everyone's Holiday gift from me! Hope you all like it! Please do review!

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_Chapter Fifteen_

_Don't Ever Say Sorry for Something You Meant to Do_

Cailee hadn't realized how much time had gone by. They had less than a month, more like two weeks now, until mid-terms before break. She had spent every night of November studying with her friends, since Hermione kept nagging them about where they wanted to go in the future. They just humored her by studying with her. She was a Prefect, so she had made a new rule that it was to be silent at ten o'clock in the Common Rooms, or any offenders would have to serve detention. Harry couldn't help but smile at the girl he loved so dearly and how dedicated she was.

Cailee was actually pretty happy at where she was right now in her schoolwork. She had good grades in them all, except Divination, which didn't bother her too much, she didn't really care about seeing. Parvarti had come up to Cailee and called her a list of horrible names, and tried to hex her. Cailee had her wand out and blocked her, before cursing her so badly that she had to go to the Hospital Wing because she couldn't see, and her body was shrinking rapidly. Cailee had been docked thirty points for it, and given a detention in which she had to clean the Great Hall after dinner one night, but it wasn't too bad. She'd had it with Parvarti. She hadn't been raised to act like this, but she wasn't going to take it lying down. So after it had happened, she went and told Brian. He and his friends had gone up to her one day and talked to her, making evil threats to her if she ever said one more word about Cailee. And Parvarti did. She was in the Hospital Wing again for a week after that. Madam Pomfrey wasn't sure how many curses hit her, or which ones they were for that matter, so it took a while for her to sort it out. Parvarti then went around trying to correct the rumor she had started, and lost a great deal of friends because she had lied about Cailee. Cailee was surprised that Lavender stuck by her through it all, but she was the only one who did. Cailee didn't talk to Parvarti, even though she had apologized.

And things with Malfoy. . . Cailee didn't think about them too much. In all honesty, she didn't care. She hadn't so much as talked to him since the night of the party, or looked at him, or even acknowledged that he was there. She had noticed he had grown more reticent in recent weeks, though. She still thought he was handsome, but she could live without him. She had gotten a letter from her dad telling her to fix things with Malfoy, or he was going to pull her out of there, but she wasn't going to fix something he broke. Seamus had started dating Amber, so her friendship with him had to be downsized a little. She didn't like him anymore. In fact, she only liked Brian at the time. He often walked her to classes, and she usually went down to the Quidditch pitch with him once or twice a week to watch him practice when she could. They did hang out a lot, and Cailee noticed people growing jealous in both houses. Cailee friend's weren't jealous though; in fact Brian had become a part of their group, he hung out with Cailee so much. And Brian's popular group and merged with Cailee's so-so group, to form one group now. There were about twelve of them that did a lot of things together now, and hung out in the classes they shared. Cailee found that Brian had a fascination with stars also. He had met her one time at one in the morning to take her up to the top astronomy tower and watch a meteor shower. She had gotten cold and he wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her softly on the lips.

"Are you excited?" Ginny asked her, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"For what?"

"The Hogsmeade trip tomorrow, duh," Ginny said, looking up at her.

"Yeah, I am. I've never been there before," Cailee said.

"What? Ohmigosh! We have to show you everything! There's Zonko's, and the Shrieking Shack, and Fred and George's new store out there—" she said excitedly. Cailee laughed at her excitement.

"You're like my little brothers and sisters. They were always so excited to show me things I hadn't been shown yet." Ginny giggled at that.

"So, let me see, I guess I'm going to have to treat you like I treat them. I would tell them, 'We need to go to bed, so tomorrow will come faster,' because we usually had lots of fun things in store. So, I guess we need to get to bed, huh?" she asked, grabbing her bag, and heading upstairs.

Hermione followed soon after, and she and Cailee sat up talking for a while on Hermione's bed until Parvarti and Lavender came in, with Amber, which was a surprise for them all. Parvarti looked over at Cailee with wide eyes, as though pleading with her to talk to her, but Cailee just looked away, and continued talking with Hermione and Amber. At first, Amber hadn't liked Hermione, and vice versa. But they eventually learned to get along. Hermione had even let her give her a makeover, and Hermione loved her. Amber was smarter than she looked; she was able to tame Hermione's hair with a simple potion taken once a month, and had shown her how to use makeup. Now Cailee and Amber weren't the only one's people had their eyes on, Hermione was in on it too. She seemed flustered by the attention, and Harry seemed jealous. After an hour or two, the three finally went to bed.

"Good morning! It's snowing! Dress warmly!" Hermione sang to Cailee and Amber the next morning.

"Thanks mom," Amber said, sitting up in bed and moving back her hangings. Cailee did so too and glanced outside. The ground was already covered in a few feet of snow. She could see the path Hagrid had made up to the castle earlier, and it was already beginning to fill back in. The forest looked smaller, since many of the trees were covered in snow. She couldn't even see out to the lake because it was so foggy and dark.

Cailee rolled out of bed and made a mad dash towards the end of her bed, her feet cold on the wooden floor. From within her trunk she pulled out a pair of dark jeans, and a long sleeved shirt with writing on it. She laughed as she looked at it, forgetting she had even packed it. All her brothers and sisters had stenciled their names onto her shirt before she left, each writing a little message to her wishing her luck. She pulled it on, and then rummaged through her trunk for a hoody. She found the white one she and her soccer team had made last season. Soccer was a borrowed sport in her realm, but everyone still greatly enjoyed it. And her mother and father always had to promote a healthy image, so Cailee and her siblings had to participate in 2-4 sports a year, so Cailee did soccer, tennis, and softball, all borrowed sports. On her hoody she had ironed on the word Ooteropeiaon the centerof the back of her hoody. On the front on the right side it said Cailee, and underneath that the number 27. She found a red and gold scarf, and red mittens, and a black beanie. She slipped all those inside her hoody, and went downstairs alone.

"Hey Ron," she said, sitting down next to him on one of the couches.

"Hi Cailee," he said, smiling up at her, before continuing to gaze into the fire. Cailee began to pull her hair back into a low ponytail, while saying, "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting on Harry. I think he has something special planned for Hermione today. He took the time to put on cologne, which I didn't even know he owned, and tried to tame his hair, which is impossible, but we'll see how it goes," he whispered to her, just as Hermione and Amber came downstairs. Cailee watched Seamus go up to Amber and pull her into a big hug and whisper something to her before she started to laugh. She held his hand and walked outside the portrait.

"That Seamus, what am I gonna do without my best friend today?" Dean asked, from behind them. They turned and saw him leaning against the back of the couch.

"Hang out with me, then," Ron said. "Seems I'm losing my best friend to a girl too," he said, looking over at Harry and Hermione. Harry's hair did look good, instead of it messed up everywhere. It looked like he had used a lot of gel and maybe some hairspray to halfway tame it, it still looked sloppy, but it wasn't everywhere.

"And what am I going to do?" Cailee asked, crossing her hands across her chest.

"Play dolls with Ginny?" Ron said, laughing.

"Only if you'll play too, Ron, like you used to," Ginny said, sitting across from then. Dean started coughing, which sounded like he was trying to hide a laugh, and Ron's ears' burned red.

"Oh, come on. We used to have so much fun together, especially when Fred and George would play too. Until they blew up my dolls," Ginny said, frowning at the memory.

"Okay, you guys, lets go," Cailee said laughing at the sibling rivalry.

After Filch had checked the list very carefully, they walked outside. The snow was so cold, and it filled their shoes.

"Every year mum tells us to bring boots for the snow, and we never listen do we, Gin?" Ron asked.

"Nah, but Fred and George did, once, remember. Bought pink boots to wear. Everyone loved them, especially the girl's, thought it was hot," Ginny said.

By the time they had reached the town, the four were freezing. "What say we go to your brother's shop?" Dean asked them, since it was only a few minutes a way. Everyone nodded in agreement, and continued on down the street.

Inside Weasley Wizard Wheezes, it was crowded. There was so much laughter, and so many kids pushing to the front of the shop, and shoving people in between aisles, daring each other to try some of the twins' foulest creations. Ron pushed his way up to the front, and behind the counter, leading them to a store room in the back. They put their things down and looked around. It was where the twin's lived, obviously. They were in their living room, which had two couches and a bookshelf, and lead into the kitchen. The living room had items thrown everywhere, books, parchments, and some clothes. The kitchen was in a bad need of some cleaning, food was going bad on the counter, and the dishes needed to be washed. Cailee walked down another hallway with Ginny. At the end of it was a bathroom with towels all over it, clothes strewn about the floor. And on either side of the bathroom was a bedroom, one for each twin.

"Ron! What are you doing?" someone asked. Cailee retreated down the hallway with Ginny. A boy, not nearly as tall as Ron, had walked back into the living area. His hair wasn't quit as red as Ron and Ginny's, but he still had just as many freckles. He was muscular, you could tell because of the way his shirt fit him. He was solid, and had a white smile, with twinkling green eyes.

"Fred!" Ginny said, flinging herself into him. He looked a little shocked, but hugged her back.

"Ginny, you're fifteen, pull yourself together," said another twin, coming back into the room. He looked exactly like his brother, except he was a little taller.

"Hey, Dean, Ron--" Fred said, after Ginny had let go. His eyes had stopped on Cailee. Cailee could feel herself blush, because she was embarrassed. She hadn't put on very much makeup this morning, and her hair was getting ratty from the snow melting on it.

_Wow! They actually make girls like this?_ Fred wondered. _How come I never saw her at Hogwarts? Surely I wouldn't have missed her. She's tall, and her hair is such a gorgeous brown. I've never seen eyes as blue as that, either. Lighter than the skies. And her figure. . ._he thought.

"Fred, George, this is Cailee Ooteropeia," Ron said, introducing her. Fred had gotten over his shock and walked up to her, sticking out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Cailee. Jolly good, now tell—" he started, but was pushed out of the way by George.

"Smashing, darling. Now, how old are you?" George asked.

"Sixteen," Cailee said laughing at the way these boys behaved. So much like Harry and Ron, and Dean and Seamus.

"Oh really now? Come, come, do tell us about yourself," Fred started, shoving George out of the way. Just then someone yelled from the front.

"Fred! George! Out here now!"

"Lee works for you guys now?" Ron asked, mildly amused.

"Works with us," Fred said. "Co-owner," he said, before striding out of the room.George winked at Cailee, and then walked out of the room too.

"Well seems you've made an impression on my brothers," said Ron, going into the kitchen to look for some food.

"Oh, and don't you just see me shouting for joy?" Cailee asked with mild sarcasm.

"You should be. I mean, I know they're my brothers and everything, but people do talk about them, and so many of the girls had crushes on them. They were all jealous of Katie Bell, George's on-again-off-again girlfriend," Ginny said, sitting on the couch next to Dean. He put his arm around her shoulder, and then looked up to see Ron coming back from the kitchen with a look of pure hatred.

"Ron! Grow up! I'm a big girl now! I don't need you looking out for me all the time!" Ginny wailed, standing up, pulling Dean up with her.

"Ginny, ok, I'm sorry," Ron said. "Hey, hey, you know what? We should all go to the Three Broomsticks and get some butterbeers, okay?" he said, looking around eagerly. They all agreed, and started back through the shop. As Cailee pulled up the counter, she saw Malfoy perusing the shop near the front. Their eyes caught for a moment, but then Cailee looked away as Fred pulled her into a big hug and said something to make her laugh.

The snow was biting. Cailee was shivering, and she wished she'd worn more than a hoody today. She started shivering, and Ron placed his arm around her shoulder, and she put hers around his waist. After a long walk in which they ran the last few minutes of, the reached the tavern.

A loud blast met their ears, just like at the joke shop. Everyone was laughing and Cailee saw a lot of her friends. While Ron went to get the drinks with Dean, she and Ginny went around from table to table saying hello to everyone. Cailee saw Brian and went over and sat with him for a few minutes before she saw Ron and Dean head to a table in the back where Harry and Hermione sat. She gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, and then left.

"Hey you guys! Where've you been?" Cailee asked Harry and Hermione.

"Oh, just around, walking and talking and stuff," Harry said.

"Oh yeah?" Ron asked with a sly grin. Harry punched him on the shoulder, and Ron slopped some of his drink down the front of his coat.

"Oh Ron," Hermione said giggling, and cleaning up his mess with her wand. "What would you do without me?"

"Probably get kicked out of the school cause of bad grades," he said in all honesty, smiling.

"So really. What were you two up to?" Dean asked, sitting next to Ginny.

The two exchanged glances, and then laughed.

"You guys think it's so serious. No, we honestly just were walking around, went into a few stores, and Harry and I bought each other a few things, because, if you remember, it's our six month today," Hermione said, still laughing.

"Ohh," they all said.

After a round of butterbeer, Harry and Hermione left, claiming they had "some stuff to do." Dean and Ginny left to, leaving Ron to pay the bill, and go outside with Cailee.

"Ron! OY, Ron!" someone called. They looked around to see the Ravenclaw Ron had spent a lot of Halloween night with at the party.

"Go," Cailee whispered to him, pushing him towards her. She knew how much he liked her; he talked about her a lot. "I'll be fine." Ron took off running towards her, and caught her in a big hug; they both lost their balance and toppled over in the snow, laughing hysterically.

Cailee continued to walk up the street, peering into every few shops to look. She had just stopped outside Zonko's, and was contemplating how much money she was going to spend inside there on Christmas gifts when an arm caught around her elbow.

"Oh, its you," she said in bitter disgust, looking at Malfoy, trying to get away. He only tightened his grip, forcing her to look back at him. No matter how much she didn't want to be around him, she still couldn't help but notice how strong he was, and how red his cheeks were in the wind.

"Yes, it's me. Cailee, can we please talk?" he asked.

"About what?" she asked, wanting him to admit he'd done wrong at the party.

"About. . . Cailee, well, the party, and other stuff," he said, looking away.

"No. I don't really want to spend my time looking at you, let alone talk to you." She said, trying to start off again.

"Cailee, you're not being fair," he said.

"WHAT? I'm NOT being fair? You're kidding me, right! You haven't been fair to me!" she yelled, and a few people turned to look.

"I know, Cailee. That's why I need to talk to you. Please, come here," he said, leading her off across the street.

They entered a little shop, a quiet, relaxed one.( think coffee shop) There were a few people in here, and Cailee noticed to her disgust that they were mostly couples. Malfoy took her to a table next to a window in the back.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked, looking at the menus on their round table.

"Yes, I do. Hot chocolate." She said tersely; as much as she didn't want to accept anything from Malfoy, it was cold outside, and she was freezing.

He got up and ordered at the front counter, and came back with two hot chocolates. Cailee added cinnamon and sugar to hers and looked out the window until Malfoy decided to talk to her.

"Cailee, I'm so sorry," he finally said, looking at her. Cailee found herself lost in his deep blue eyes.

"For what?" she sniffed. She knew she was being absolutely horrible to him, but she didn't care right now.

"For the party. The way I used you. And lead you on," he said, looking down.

"Yeah, so why'd you do it? You don't ever say sorry for something you meant to do, and I'm sure you meant to use me like you did," she said, staring him in the eye.

"I don't know, I really don't. I guess. . . I guess I was afraid everything they were saying was true."

"And how could you believe those things, Malfoy? I thought we were friends, I thought we could trust each other. But I was wrong," she said, looking back out the window.

"Cailee, I want you to trust me. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm apologizing. You don't have any idea what it's been like for me to. . . for me to lose one of my best friends," he said, looking at her. She turned around slowly.

"Lose your best friend? Malfoy, it's not even funny. I don'tlike lies. At home, people who lied were shunned and frowned upon. I don't know how you could believe what everyone was saying about me. If you had any doubts, you should have come and talked to me, instead of trying to use me."

"Cailee, don't you see? I believed them because I was afraid they were true. I was afraid that you were with other guys, and not with me. We had fun at the beginning of the dance, and then I see you dancing with all those other guys just like you were with me, and I felt like it was an act, like you were just doing it to me so I wouldn't feel bad when you were all over another guy. I was jealous. . . and I felt I had to prove myself to you." He said.

Cailee just looked at him and listened to the silence between them.

"Cailee, it's been hard. I don't want to break down and cry like a baby in front of you, but, it's been weird without you around. I would look forward to going to Potions class, and to our tutoring sessions because I knew you were going to be there. You didn't care that I was a Slytherin, like so many others do, you accepted me, and you taught me, and I had fun with you."

"And I loved being around you too, Malfoy. But do you even realize how hard it was for me? Everyone thought I was a whore. Everyone thought I had been sleeping around, and you have no idea how many guys would try to take advantage of me when I was walking between classes. And then…there was you. Not only was I hurt because you believed the rumors, you tried to take advantage of them, and then you went around bragging about it, like it had really happened. I don't know what kind of a reputation you've built for yourself since you've been here, if you have to go around claiming you've been with people when you haven't, just for attention, but if it is, I don't want to be around you."

"Cailee, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! How many times do I have to say it?" he asked.

She stood up, jerking her hand away from him.

"Until you mean it," she hissed, and walked away.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** This last bit about the 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry . . . Until you mean it' part of the conversation was taken from Degrassi, the best TV show ever! (Just had to put that in there.) So I hope you like it. I need to upload more documents from my computer onto the FanFiction thing, so I might do that tomorow, or later on tonight. But either way, I plan on putting up a new post tomorow, after I get some review! 


	16. Do You Believe in Second Chances?

So, I hope everyone had a very Happy Holdiay! And I'm so very sorry that it took me longer than I said it would to update. My bestest friend ever from Missouri came down to visit and she stayed at my house Sunday night, and we went shopping all day Monday, so today was the first day I could update. I hope you all like it! And by the way Georgia, I'm glad you're liking the story and the twins!

* * *

_Chapter Sixteen_

_Do You Believe in Second Chances?_

That night in the Common Room was fun. Harry and Ron had managed to get a bunch of butterbeers and food from somewhere, presumably the kitchens, and now the whole House was feasting and showing off there new possessions. Every now and then there would be a loud pop, and you would see someone transforming into a canary and back again, feathers flying everywhere.

After Cailee had stormed out of the shop she had been in with Malfoy, she met up with Brian back at the Three Broomsticks. He had taken her around to all the other shops and bought her a few things, including a black and white sketch of them. Cailee loved that picture dearly and really missed it when she or Brian would be out of the frame.

The partying continued until well past midnight. Most of the younger kids had gone to bed, up till fourth year, and everyone else at the party was starting to settle down. It had been rather quiet, and the popping sounds were less and less frequent. Cailee stretched out on a couch and listened to the buzz of chatter around her. She felt so at home here, surrounded by these people. Even though they couldn't take place of her family and her realm, this was as good as it got while she was away. Cailee looked into the fire, concentrating hard, trying to picture each one's face, but it was hard. It had been five months since she had last seen them, and she hadn't brought a picture of them along. That was mostly because of her dad, he didn't want someone to see it and realize who and what Cailee was. And that was the hardest thing of all, keeping these secrets from some of the people she cared about most.

The next morning, after she had dressed and gone down to the Common Room, Ginny came up to her, holding a piece of parchment in her hand.

"Look at this, Cailee," she said, shoving the parchment in her hand.

**_ATTENTION ALL UPPER CLASSMEN_**

**_Get Ready for the Biggest Party of the Year_**

**_December 17 Last Day of Term_**

**_8-00 to….?_**

**_Believe us, You Will NOT Want to Miss This!_**

"Where did you get this, Gin?" Cailee asked.

"Found it under our door this morning," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I assumed everyone would get one."

"Maybe we did," Cailee said.

"So, are you gonna go?"

"I don't know. I don't really want to go, not after the last party."

"But Cailee, that was three months ago, this is going to be different."

"Maybe, Ginny, we'll see," Cailee said, heading downstairs to breakfast.

That weekend passed rather slow, Cailee thought. She, Brian, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Dean, and Seamus did a lot of studying in the library, along with Brian's friends. They had one more week to go until mid-terms, and Cailee was starting to feel the pressure. That was do mostly to Hermione, who, every time someone turned around to talk to her, she would utter a spell, or incantation, or something that had to do with her lessons. It was becoming increasingly hard to hold a conversation with her without her bringing up tests every few minutes. Cailee realized she didn't need the extra pressure. She was really beginning to like it here, at Hogwarts, and she wanted to stay for her seventh year, too. After all, Caleb had gotten to stay for four years and finish out his schooling, why couldn't she? So she knew the plan was going to be disrupted a little. Her father had cleared it with Dumbledore that it didn't matter how bad she did on the exams, she wouldn't be staying another year. But since she did want to stay, she did need to pass these to at least have the credits she needed to continue on her final year. But the hardest thing was going to be convincing her dad she did deserve to stay.

The following Monday, in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lupin brought up the slip of parchment Ginny had received.

"I trust that you students received your invitations to this year's Winter Ball, and if you haven't, I'm sure you'll be receiving one soon. Professor Dumbledore thought it would be to your benefit that you received some time off to enjoy yourselves, and unite yourselves with people from other houses. Especially now, more than ever, with the Dark Lord on the rise. I do not know how to stress the importance of unity, trust, loyalty, and respect between all of you. But, if you all want the Dark Lord to be vanquished, and live no longer with the shadow of death in your lives', I suggest you learn it." He said, and with that, he continued on with his lesson.

Cailee had begun to contemplate going, even though she hadn't received an invitation yet. But she needn't worry about that. She had more important things to think about, for instance, her internship. She was extremely nervous to go to Transfiguration that day; she wondered whether or not she'd been put on the waiting list as a Medic Witch.

Her class was deadly quiet when McGonagall walked in. She looked at them through her glasses, and then, for the first time Cailee had seen, she smiled.

"Today, class, you will be writing your resumes. Your names were all sent to your potential supervisors, and you've all been accepted in one of your Career field choices. Those who are getting good grades and showing excellent talent here were put on their first choice lists, and after that, if there was room, some of you other students were placed on your first choice also. But not most of you. I will be sending around the list of what internship you've been selected for, and I will start you on your resumes. I realize that you would never have expected this of me, but it is imperative you know what you are doing after Hogwarts. And what you signed up for now I know you might not be after school, but at least you have a direction to go in. There were some jobs that you weren't allowed to go into, like Aurors and Unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. It would have been to dangerous for you, as well as the people in them, so I'm sorry to say those of you who signed up for those were bumped down to you other choices. Now, if you'll please—" She continued on, but the acceptant list had finally reached her. She glanced down the roll of parchment almost two-and-a-half feet long, and found her name about three-fourths of the way down.

_Cailee Ooteropeia Medic-Witch_

She was excited now! She couldn't believe she'd actually made it onto the list of her first choice! She continued to listen to Professor McGonagall ramble on for ten minutes or so, before she set out a copy of the resume she'd sent in when she'd applied for her position as Transfiguration teacher so many years ago. They each received a copy to reference if they needed at any time. The class was abuzz of excitement and chatter while students talked about what they had received. Hermione had signed on as a Healer, Harry and Ron as Pro-Quidditch players, Dean as an employee in the Department of International Sports, and Seamus as an employee in the Department of Security and Defense. Seamus had sort of surprised Cailee with that decision; she didn't see him as a security person, or someone to work on combat forces.

Lunch came, and the rest of the afternoon sort of dragged on. Muggle Studies was a total bore war; Cailee found it so hard to stay awake, while Hermione sat next to her wide-eyed and happy. Cailee had no clue as to why Hermione was even taking this class, she had grown up a Muggle.

The next morning, Cailee received her invitation. It was different than the one Ginny had gotten. This one told her it was formal, and she was to wear her dress robes, and other stuff like that. But she also got two other packages. She opened one and found a bracelet with star charms all over it, and one letter of her name inscribed on each one. She thought it weird, since there was no name of who had sent it to her. So she opened up the next one, a letter from someone she least expected.

_Cailee,_

_I don't know what to do to make you realize how sorry I truly am. Since you won't talk to me, I guess I'm going to have to communicate with you through the post. But, honestly, I am sorry. I probably sound desperate talking and carrying on like this, but I guess I am. I'm desperate to have you back in my life. I'm desperate to talk to you again. I'm desperate to hear your laughter. I'm desperate for my friend. Cailee, please, please, please, do not hold what I did against me. It was a mistake, and I wish I had never done it._

_Draco_

Cailee reread the letter twice. Part of her wanted to rip it up and throw it away, the other part wanted to go over and talk to him now and see what he really meant. But she decided on the first decision. She ripped it up into tiny pieces, and let them all flutter into her porridge. And out of the corner of her eye, she knew he had seen it. But there was still the bracelet. What should she do? She decided to put it back in its box, and retie it to the owl that had brought it, which was still sitting at the table, picking at her bacon. The owl fluttered off, and Cailee wondered where the bracelet would go.

She wasn't going to be quick to forgive Malfoy. He had seriously hurt her. He had tried to violate her, and he had tried, and succeeded for the most part, in smearing her reputation. She sometimes walked down the hall and still had guys smack her butt and whistle. It was quite annoying. That was probably the one thing holding her back. The one reason she didn't want to stay at Hogwarts. But maybe, and she truly hoped, it would all blow over. But she doubted it.

* * *

That whole week, all she got in the post were presents and apology letters from Malfoy. And each one she had ripped up and sent back. She couldn't believe he was so vain as to think he could win her over with presents and sob-story letters. And that irritated her all the more.

"Go, I'll catch you guys up. Tell Flitwick I'll be late," Cailee said one day, after lunch. She really had to go to the bathroom, she was feeling seriously ill, and she didn't want Hermione waiting on her. After a couple minutes in the bathroom, she emerged into a deserted corridor. She walked quickly, trying to get to class, when out of nowhere she heard running footsteps. She turned around and saw Malfoy running, his robes open, and his bag slipping off his shoulder. She waited till he caught up to her. She lowered her eyes and snarled, "What do YOU want with ME?"

"Cailee, do you believe in second chances?" he asked, panting slightly, and readjusting his robes. She was stunned by the question, it was just too random. She thought out all possible answers she could give him, and his responses, but could see no trap in it.

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"Don't I deserve one? People mess up Cailee, they do. I messed up. And all I'm asking for is a second chance. Is that so hard?"

She thought deeply. She was quiet for a few minutes and then said, "No, it's not hard to give you a second chance. It is hard to forgive you of what you've done to me."

"Cailee, please, I had no idea it would be so hard. I didn't think this out. Actually, I rarely ever do think things out, but—" he slumped down on the floor, and rested his head on his bent knees. Cailee sat down opposite him.

"I _swear_ had I known the way things really were, this would have never happened."

"Draco, that's the one thing that bothers me the most. You_did_ believe those things. I thought I knew you enough, and I thought you knew me enough to know I wouldn't do those things. I'm not a whore. I don't sleep with guys. Those were all rumors Parvarti and Lavender started because Parvarti was jealous that I was close friends with Seamus. That's it."

"Are you serious?" he asked, jerking his head up.

"I'm so serious Malfoy. Why would I lie?"

"You wouldn't. I can't believe those two. All those horrible rumors, and the awful situations they've put you in, out of pity jealousy. Like I said Cailee, I don't know why I did what I did, but you have no idea how much I regret it. It's like…I don't know how to explain it. It's kind of like coming to a fork in the path. And each time you come to it, you take the same path; for instance, each time I go right. I know the right path so much, but then I start to wonder, What would happen if I went left? Then one day I do go left. And it's the worse decision I've ever made. I'm separated from the things I love most, the people who meant the most special to me. And I regret ever going left. Do you know what I'm saying?"

"Yeah, I do Draco," she said, smiling up at him. He would never know she was in that situation right now. She could have continued going right the rest of her life and live with her family. But then, she decided to go left, to accept a mission, and was separated from those she loved.

"Cailee, I am, so, so, so sorry. I hope you believe me, and I hope one day, you can forgive me."

She stood up, and looked down at him. The she reached out her arm for his hand and pulled him up.

"I already do forgive you," she said, and pulled him close to her.

Draco was kind of stunned at this, but then he put his arms around her and hugged her like he would never be able to again.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Hope you liked it. Earlier when I was talking about Seamus's job in the Department of Security and Defense, what I meant for him to be was one of those people who were called in during the third book to clean up the mess after Sirius had supposedly killed all those Muggles. Do you get it? And I totally didn't remember any names from the books about the Departments, so I made some up. If you do know the actual names let me know, and I will go back and edit that. Keep reviewing! It's almost Christmas time, some of the best chapters in the story!


	17. Spill it, Ron

_Chapter Seventeen_

_Spill it, Ron_

Things were more enjoyable now that Cailee had made up with Draco. She didn't feel that constant ache in her stomach every time she walked past him. Now, it seemed like constant butterflies. She couldn't stop thinking about him, she always wanted to be with him. And he felt the same way about her. Draco loved it when she wrote him notes and slipped them to him in the hallway. Sometimes he wouldn't even notice her in the corridors because she would come up behind him in the crowds and slip a note in his bag and walk away without even saying hi. And then when he got to class and opened his bag, he would find a note from her, and his heart would beat with excitement.

"Ginny! Guess what?" Cailee said one day in the Common Room.

"What?" Ginny asked, looking up from her homework at Cailee.

"I've decided I'm going to the dance on Friday!"

"Are you serious? This is so good! It's gonna be so much fun with you there! And it's only a few more days away," she said.

Cailee grinned. A few more days, three more exams.

Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms were the easiest exams she took. Potions was the hardest, which she took on Friday. She and Seamus, along with every other pair in the room had to set up dividers between them during the written part of the exam. And then, after forty-five minutes, they were taken down so they could continue the practical exam, which was concocting a Bezoar Potion.

After the exam, Cailee went up to the Common Room, and laid out on the couch. She hadn't been there more than five minutes when she feel asleep. Nearly two hours later, Ron woke her up.

"Cailee, you need to get up. It's six. Hermione sent me to tell you that they're going to start getting ready, the just didn't want to wake you up."

"Thanks Ron," she said, sitting up and stretching out. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"Okay," he said, grinning.

She hurried upstairs to her dorm, where she found Hermione and Ginny.

"Hey," she said, going to the closet in the corner.

"Sorry we didn't wake you sooner, Cailee. We've noticed you've been kind of tired lately," Ginny said, watching her look through the closet for her dress robes.

"I'm going down to shower, anyone coming with me?" she asked.

"No, we've already showered, but we'll wait up here for you, ok?" Hermione said.

"Yeah, no problem," Cailee said, and she took off down the stairs.

Twenty minutes later she was showered, dressed, and had her make-up done.

"Cailee! I can't believe how good you look in you robes! I love them!" Ginny squealed, for about the hundredth time.

"Thanks, Gin, I like them too," Cailee said, turning around in the mirror. Her robes were a very light pink, and they contrasted well with her blue eyes, making them look even brighter. She had left her hair down, but had given it those beachy waves again. Atop her head she had placed a small tiara with flowers on it. She kept her make-up light and natural tonight.

Hermione was wearing the blue robes she had worn the night of the Yule Ball, Ginny told her. She also kept her hair down tonight, but had put random spirals in it, along with some of the blue and pink stones she wore the night of the Halloween party. Ginny had on blue robes also, that complemented her orange hair well. She had done the beachy waves to her hair also, with help from Cailee, and left it at that. Just as they were about to leave the dorm, Ginny asked Cailee, "So, who's your date for tonight?"

Cailee stopped dead.

"What? We're supposed to have dates?" she asked, looking around, as if hoping to find some guy hiding in the corner of the dorm that she could go with.

"Um yeah, didn't we tell you?" Hermione asked.

"Obviously not, since I'm dateless." Cailee said.

"Cailee, don't worry. I'm sure there are other guys who haven't got dates that will be plenty happy to go with you when we get there, all right?"

Cailee nodded, but she was still a little hesitant about the whole thing now.

She walked to the Great Hall with Ginny and Dean, Hermione and Harry, and Seamus and Amber and Ron. When they walked inside, she was kind of aghast at what she saw. There was hundreds of garlands of mistletoe, and snow fell from the ceiling, some of it disappearing before actually hitting the ground, and others piling up on the floor. There were hundreds of smaller tables, and there were pathways crisscrossing around the room lit by actual fairies. It was fairly dim in there, bright enough to see, dark enough so the fairy lights could be seen. There were the usual twelve Christmas trees all around the room, with the largest one being in the center, and reaching up almost to the ceiling itself, and the top branches being covered in snow.

Cailee followed her friends to a table near the center of the room, right next to the giant Christmas tree. It was gorgeous, Cailee thought, with crystal decorations reflecting the light in the room. They chattered away aimlessly, all the while growing hungry. And then Dumbledore stood up.

"Ahem, students, could I have your attention. As many of you know, this dance is an attempt to have all the Houses bonding with each other, and becoming more friendly. We hope you will remember this ball, as it is almost the same as the one held two years ago, at the Yule Ball, when Durmstrang and Beauxbaton were here, except for the absence of those two schools. Remember the unity held then, remember the utmost respect you hold for each other. Now take that, and channel it towards your peers. Do not forget that all this could be gone in an instant, as it was for Cedric Diggory—" at these words, Harry looked away, and Cailee saw tears forming, "—who, at present time, is the only student we've lost to the Death Eaters. But I'm sure he will not be the last." At this, most of the students turned to glance at Harry. "But…if we can trust each other, put faith in each other, believe in each other, and respect in each other, he may be the only one we will ever have to lose. Please, please, remember." And with that he sat down. It was quiet in the hall for a few minutes, before food appeared on the tables and everyone started talking; everyone except Harry.

Cailee looked at Harry's eyes, and tried to read them, just as she had done to Pansy, Snape, and Hermione. Obviously there was sorrow there. Cailee concentrated harder. She shut out all the sound around her, and all the sights, except for Harry's eyes. And then, just as if she was watching it from a film she saw Harry sprinting towards a trophy in the middle of a maze; saw him being picked up by a spider, watched as he and another boy, presumably Cedric, defeated the spider and debated who should get the trophy; watched as they were transported to another place; saw how Cedric was killed. Just like that. No reason at all. Other than being in the Dark Lord's way. This infuriated Cailee all the more. No one could be that heartless, no one should be. Yet, there was one.

Dinner and dessert had passed, and Cailee had sat there and laughed and talked away with all the others, except Harry, who remained remote throughout the whole thing. His grief was so heartfelt; Cailee could feel it, even though she couldn't relate it to a personal experience of hers. And she would never be able to either, not with her gift, her family's gift.

"Students, there is one other announcement I must give," said Professor Dumbledore, standing up again. For that one moment, he and Cailee made direct eye contact, and in that instance Cailee saw someone she least expected. _Her father. _How? What? She wondered. Was that even possible? She had never been able to see someone by looking into someone else's eyes. But then again, her father was old, and he knew the Ancient Magic. She knew some, not nearly enough.

"We have a new custom, policy, if you will, for this dance, and maybe for many more to come. At this Ball, we do not want anyone dancing with someone from the same house. We want you to meet new people. I'm sure there are people in your year that you've never even talked to before, on a friendly level," he said, smiling, looking at Harry, Ron, and then his eyes flitted over to where the Slytherin table was usually located. "So, carry on. Enjoy yourselves."

People stood up at the same time. At the same moment, from the corner of the room, came music. Cailee looked up to see who it was. She couldn't tell, she didn't know much about the music in this realm. In hers, there was one person in charge of the music, and there was usually one person in charge of other things too. But people started chanting, "Weird Sisters! Weird Sisters!"

The first song they played was a quick song. People were doing many variations of fast dance steps. Cailee laughed as she sat at the table alone, watching her friends dance. Harry seemed to come out of his shell and was getting into the music. He dipped Hermione a few times, and spun her out from his arms, until each of their arms were extended all the way out and they were a few feet a part. Hermione grinned, and spun back in. It was the best thing she had ever seen, well here in this realm. On the next slow song, Cailee danced with Brian, and then with Shayne. Shayne was a nice guy that she was just starting to get know. He was in Ravenclaw, and he was in her Muggle Studies class, though they hadn't ever talked. Then one day they were paired up in an activity, and they just kind of clicked. He had signed up as a Medic witch (in his case, wizard) and Cailee was sure they would have lessons together next semester. As the song ended and they hugged each other, Cailee made her way back to the table she had originally started at. Ron was sitting there, tapping his fingers along to the beat of the music.

"Hey Ron. What are you doing over here?" Cailee asked, sitting across from him.

"Got ditched," he muttered.

"By who? That pretty Ravenclaw girl?" she asked, looking around, as if hoping to see her standing around him.

"Don't rub it in."

"I'm not trying to Ron. I was just wondering. Is that who it is?"

"Yeah," he said, bunching his hand up in a fist and then stretching it out again.

"Well, how come?"

"Dunno. She was with me one moment, then there was a pause in the music, and she was hanging around with Roger Davies. Really hanging around him, if you get me," he said, scowling.

"Oh," she whispered.

"Guess she's in to Quidditch players though, maybe not lousy Keepers, but Captains."

"Ron, stop it. How about I set you up with someone?" she asked, an idea forming in her mind.

"Who?" he asked, looking up, a little startled.

"Brian's little sister. She's a fifth year, but she's really nice. She hangs out with me and Brian sometimes."

"Which one is she?" he asked.

"You know her Ron! We have Herbology with her. Long blond hair, blonder highlights, green eyes. . .Does any of that ring a bell to you?" she asked, marveling at his density. He sat lost in thought for a few minutes, and then, snapping his fingers said, "I do know her! Hailey?"

"Yeah, her! Want me to do it?"

"Sure, why not?" he said, slumping down.

"All right, be back in a while," she said smiling and walking away.

It took Cailee a good fifteen minutes or so to find Hailey, but when she did, she found her sitting with a few friends having something to drink. Cailee pulled her aside and talked to her, then lead her away to introduce her to Ron. After being with them a few minutes, she left. 'Whatever happens, happens,' she thought. She hadn't even seen Malfoy yet that night, and they'd been there almost forty-five minutes. She scanned the crowds for five minutes or so, then went back to the table. She was starting to get depressed; no date, no Malfoy. What a big suckfest. Her heart absolutely plummeted to the floor when she saw Ron back at the table, no Hailey in sight. He was sitting opposite two people who looked oddly familiar. She went and plunked down next to Ron, and then gasped.

"Hello Cailee! Smashing good to see you again."

"Yes, it's been a while. How are you doing lovely?"

"Shut up guys," Ron said.

"We've just been sitting here, advising ickle Ronniekins on girls. He can't seem to get one, or keep one, for that matter," said the taller one.

"What are you two doing up here?" Cailee asked.

"Well actually, we heard there was a party. George and I were quite offended when we found out we weren't invited, so we decided to come and crash it. But there are too many pretty women here," Fred said, winking at Cailee.

Ron pretended to hurl.

"Grow up Ron!" Fred said. "Just because you can't get a girl, doesn't mean I can't." Ron then proceeded to turn fourteen different shades of red. Cailee laughed.

"Oh yeah!" George said, looking around wild-eyed.

"What?" Cailee asked, looking at his eagerness.

"We were talking to mum when she came down to the shop the other day, and we told her that Ron had a new friend, Cailee Ooteropeia. She kind of gasped, and then smiled. She asked if you were a nice girl and all, and me and Fred said you were pretty nice. And so she asked us if we would like to invite you to stay with us over break? She said she didn't think you'd have anywhere to go, and might want to stay there with us. Plus, Ron owled her I guess and said you didn't have any place to go for Christmas, since you signed up to stay here over holiday. So what do you say?" George asked, grinning.

A million things were racing through her mind. _Why did Mrs. Weasley gasp when she heard my name? Did she know? Perhaps Bill knew, since he's friends with Isaac and Jacob. Maybe they came out and told him about us, and maybe Bill let it slip to his mum. That's probably why. Don't worry Cailee. She doesn't seem one that would put you in jeopardy. Ron wouldn't._

"Sure. Why not?" she heard herself saying.

"Really?" Both twins asked, glancing at each other.

"Yeah, why not?" she said again.

"Cailee, please think about this. You have no idea what you'd be getting yourself into if you came," Ron said, in mock begging.

"Yeah, I do want to go. Bill's a nice guy, and he's always talked about you guys a lot. And Jacob and Isaac—" Cailee shut up. She had said way to much. She wasn't supposed to mention them.

"Wait. How do you know Bill?" Fred asked.

"You're friends with Jacob and Isaac?"

"Look, George. She _looks _like Jacob and Isaac."

"She does!"

"All right, this is all too weird. How do you know this stuff?" Fred asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Long story," Cailee said, getting up and walking around. She swore she heard George say, "Spill it, Ron," as she left.

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**Author's Notes: **Another chapter! Hope you all enjoy! Please RevieW! And also, when I described the Great Hall earlier, I took alot of that description from the 4th book at the Yule Ball and reworded it a bit. 


	18. Come on You'll Be Suprised

_Chapter Eighteen_

_Come on. You'll Be Suprised_

"Cailee! There you are!" Cailee spun around as she heard the all-to-familiar voice. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Draco?" she asked, looking around, since she couldn't see him as crowded as it was.

"Yep. It's me," he said, grinning, showing off the smileCailee had fallen in love with. He looked stunning, wearing robes of deep, emerald green, and his hair the way Cailee liked it.

"I've been looking for you," she said, as he came up to her and she hugged him.

"Same here. You're good at hiding," he said, laughing.

"Nah. Even Hagrid could hide behind that large tree in the middle where we were sitting." She saw his jaw tighten, but he didn't say anything, just smiled.

It was awkward for a moment, and then a slow song came on. He pulled her close, and she found herself remembering the Halloween party. She visibly shook, while trying to mentally shake the other thoughts that had come to mind. He only held her tighter. When it was over, he pushed her away, leaving his hands around her waist, and hers around his neck.

"Cailee. . . I. . Uh. We'll. . . we…I've been thinking…" he grabbed her hand and started making his way through the crowd.

"Draco! Where are we going?" she asked, as he pushed open the doors to the grounds. Cailee was short of breath. It was absolutely…gorgeous. There were two fountains in the middle of what looked like a park, with benches surrounding it. There were different paths to take, and Cailee couldn't see the end of them, or over some of them, because the shrubbery was so tall. There were flowers lining all the cobblestone paths. He continued to hold her hand and walked around the two statues and took a path off to the left.

He grinned. "I went left. Time for a change, don't you think?" he asked, grinning, but still walking, all though he had slowed his pace. Cailee had stopped struggling and trying to get answers. She just went.

The path continued to wind, and every now and then they saw some couples talking, kissing, and hugging. Cailee grinned when she noticed that one of them was Dean and Ginny, again. Soon the sound of running water came to her ears, but she couldn't see it yet, the path was so narrow. All of a sudden they turned a bend, and there was a waterfall. It was a weird spot for it to be, nevertheless it was there. Cailee, always one to think things through and be logical, tried to figure out where the water started. Then she noticed that it was a tall, maybe fifteen-foot golden archway, and the water stemmed down from that, sparkling different colors every now and then. He kept pulling her.

"Draco, we're going to get cold and wet. We can't go through there," she said, firmly planting her feet in the ground.

"Come on. You'll be surprised."

Cailee went rather reluctantly. On the count of three they both stepped through it. Or Cailee had tried to step through it. But it was a lot larger and wider than she thought, and they were actually standing in the middle of the waterfall, with water pouring down every side of them, but not in between. Cailee instantly shivered, before realizing she wasn't even cold, or wet. She looked up at Malfoy, and he was smiling.

"What?" she asked.

"Cailee, I know you've only just forgiven me, but please. I can't, won't, lose you again. Will you…" he looked to the sides, as if distracted, "will you go out with me?" He asked, pulling out the star charm bracelet, and placing it into her hand.

She kind of gasped. She was startled. He looked down in her eyes, and she really didn't know. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to him when she finally finished her mission. And this was a way to fix things with him, make her father happy, and she could stay here. But she didn't want to risk it…she looked down, and away. She could feel him sigh deeply, and slump down a bit.

"I know. It was a wild shot, to even think it," he said.

She looked up slowly. "Are you…are you really sorry?" she whispered.

"Yes! Cailee, I am so, so, so, sorry. I really, truly am. I promise you now, I won't ever hurt you like that again," he said, his voice sinking to a whisper.

"Ok then," she said smiling at him. And to see the smile he gave her, it made her so happy. He took the star charm from her hand, and clasped it around her wrist. Then he pulled her close, and kissed her softly on her lips, before trying to make it more passionate. She pulled away.

"No, Draco, not yet," she said, hugging him, but resting her cheek against his chest.

It was like she was beginning to know him again for the first time. Draco was a fairly nice guy…except for his one secret. Cailee couldn't comprehend why he chose what he was, it was beyond thinkable. That was the one thing that bothered her about him. He couldn't possibly be one of the people who had caused so much trouble to Harry…and to Cedric Diggory's parents. But he had. As much as she wanted to, she just couldn't change that.

They spent a good hour walking around on the grounds, talking and laughing together. Again, she couldn't believe that this strong, handsome guy standing next to her could also be purely evil, full of hatred, despising others, _killing _others. She shuddered at the thought.

"Are you cold?" he asked, looking at her.

"Yea, it's getting a bit cold out here. Let's go inside."

As they were walking, she slipped her hand inside his and he smiled.

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**Author's Notes: **A fairly short chapter, but if you all review today, I'll put up the next one just as soon as I can! There's still one more chapter to the dance scene in this story. 


	19. People Like You Will Bring Us Down

_Chapter Nineteen_

_It'll Be People Like You Who Bring Us Down_

"Do you mind if I cut in?" someone asked, tapping Draco on the shoulder. Draco looked at him, then at Cailee, and stepped out of the way, with a smirk. Fred then held onto her.

"Why are you dancing with him?" Fred asked, whispering in her ear.

"Because I'm going out with him," Cailee said, looking up at him.

"You what?" he nearly yelled, causing people in the near vicinity to look at them.

"What's the problem, Fred? He's just a friend," Cailee said.

"Apparently not. Not if he's your _boyfriend._ And he's a Slytherin, for crying out loud."

"Why is that so bad?"

"It just is," he said.

"There is nothing wrong with me liking, and being friends with a Slytherin," she said, disgusted.

"Yes there is."

"Then what is it? What's so wrong? Why is it bad?" She asked, growing more and more contempt with him.

"It's like an unwritten rule. Plus, do you know about the things he's done to Harry and Ron and Hermione?" he asked, knowing he had her.

"No. But it's none of your business. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are my closest friends, but if Malfoy's done anything to them, they should tell me about it, not you. Or him even. But I'm not going to bring it up. There are things that I'm never going to tell him, even if he wasn't a Slytherin."

"I can't believe you, Cailee. Have you really sunk so low?"

"As low as what, Fred? As low as what?" she spat.

"If you're not going to listen to me, fine then. But he's going to hurt you and stab you in the back. Just be ready," he said, looking away.

"This is exactly what Dumbledore is talking about. You just aren't ready to be friends with them, with Slytherins. Not all of them are bad Fred, so grow up. And you know what? It won't matter how hard I fight against them when I'm here, it won't do any good. It won't be me that brings down the whole wizarding race, it won't be me that lets Voldemort back to power. It's going to be people like you," she said, storming off, not even finishing the dance with him.

As soon as she put enough distance between her and that stuck up red-headed twin, she looked around. People were slow dancing, and some of them were watching her. She knew they had created a scene, her and Fred. She knew how loud her voice could get when she got angry. She didn't know where to go now, though. So she decided to walk over to the Christmas tree and see if anyone from her group was sitting there. As it was, Harry was there, and Hermione was off with a guy friend.

"You okay?" he asked, looking at her as she sat down.

"Fine," she fumed.

"Well, oddly enough, you don't look fine. What's wrong?"

Cailee glanced up at the sky, and snow was still falling. "Fred! He's just an idiot!" Cailee said, louder than she had intended too.

"What did he do this time?" he asked.

"He just…just doesn't get it, you know? It's like he doesn't believe the Dark Lord will ever come back to power. Like it's all some kind of joke. But he _will _come back to power, Harry, I _know_ he will," she whispered.

"Why were you guys even talking about it, now, of all times? It's Christmas, be happy." He said grinning, but Cailee looked in his eyes for the second time that night and saw the curious-ness there. He wanted to know.

"Fred is selfish. And maybe he's jealous, I don't know. But he won't get over the fact that I'm friends with a Slytherin. It's bothering him that I've been spending time with Malfoy and it's not even that big of a deal."

"Why _were _you spending so much time tonight with Malfoy. You two seem really close now," he asked.

"You're going to flip, just like Fred did," she said, half smirking.

"No I won't. Swear."

"All right…well, Malfoy asked me out…and I said yes," she said, looking at his expression. As far as his jaw had dropped, she guessed she could have fit her whole head in there, and still have room.

"I see…," he said, "it's a bit odd, but oh well."

"Well, thanks for not flipping through the roof about the whole thing," she said, grinning now.

"No problem. Which reminds me, when we get to Ron's house, don't be afraid of all the clanking and howling up in the attic. The house isn't haunted or anything, but a ghoul lives up in there," he said.

"I'm getting excited. I know I only found out about staying with them like two hours ago, but it's going to be fun. I mean, you, me, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, the twins, and the older guys all living that close to each other for three weeks…it's going to be different."

"Yea, it is."

"Ugh—I just don't know about living in the same house with Fred, that's what bothers me the most—"

"Oh dear, what has my dear twin gone and done?" George asked, hearing the frustration in Cailee's voice as he sat down at the end of the dance. Cailee explained to him, and George looked a little surprised at the Slytherin/Gryffindor romance, but didn't say anything.

"And Cailee was just saying how she didn't think she could possibly live at the Burrow for three weeks with him," Harry concluded the story.

"Harry, we're not staying at the Burrow," George whispered, "we're going to…Grimmuald Place," he said, looking around. Harry immediately withdrew from everyone after that. Cailee thought about looking in, just to see why staying at a different place would matter to him, but decided she had done enough of that tonight.

All too soon theWierd Sistersannounced it was playing its last song. She scanned the crowds for Malfoy, but he came up behind her and tapped her shoulder.

"I can't believe its over," she whispered.

"Me neither," he said, pulling her a little closer. "Too bad it couldn't last longer, I'd hold you in my arms all night," he grinned.

Cailee smiled up at him and stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the cheek. He blushed and Cailee giggled.

At the end of the last song, he held her hand and walked out to the marble staircase with her. All her friends were near her, saying good night to their dates from other houses, and Malfoy kissed her gently on the lips and said goodnight.

"See you after break," she said, and turned away. When she got to the next floor, she could still see him watching her, a dazed look on his face.

* * *

Author's Notes: There you go, Desiree! lol So there's the end of the dance, but my favorite part, as I've said so many times before, is coming up! The Christmas chapters are truly the best!

* * *


	20. You Look so Much Like Them

_Chapter Twenty_

_You Look so Much Like Them_

The next morning was very chaotic. When she and Hermione had gotten back up to their dorm, they had fallen asleep, exhausted from the night of dancing. She was shook awake by Ginny, who had come storming into the dorm about thirty five minutes before the train was going to leave for holiday. Cailee hastily grabbed a small suitcase that Hermione had magicked for her, since she wouldn't need her trunk for the whole holiday. They didn't grab any food, nor did Cailee bother with her hair or make up. It was all exactly as it had been last night, nix the robes she had been wearing. They finally made it down to the train station when the conductors were blowing the five minute whistle.

"Whew," Hermione said, pulling her suitcase that had been brought down to the platform, and putting it up on the shelf. "That was close."

"Yeah it was," Cailee said, slumping down into the compartment they had found the boys in. They gave each other a girls-are-weird look, before looking away before they started laughing. Cailee punched Ron gently in the arm, and he faked pain. Ginny got out some homework she had been assigned over break, and started doing it, hoping she could get most of it done on the train ride home. Cailee followed suit; Snape had loaded them with potions they needed to research, and two essays' they had to write; Binns had also assigned them a three foot parchment essay due back first day of break on Why Trolls Had Been Segregated from the Wizarding Race. How boring…not to mention McGonagall's assignment. They had received their final acceptance letters, and Cailee was going to be trained as a Medic-witch. Now McGonagall wanted them to write about how this career would help them in the future, what they planned to do with the knowledge they acquired, and why had they chosen that specific one.

Before Cailee knew it, the lunch witch rolled around, with her usual trolley. She took a quick glance at it, but before she could say anything, Ron said, "Wow! Fred and George have been busy! They've got four more products out on the market!" Harry bought some for everyone, and they giggled about them. One made your head swell to two or three times its normal size, and one turned you blue. Snow had begun to fall when Cailee and Ginny finally decided they were done with their homework, and joined the other three in Exploding Snap and wizards' chess. Ginny was just as good as Ron, if not better. They had each won one game, and it was actually pretty intense, considering it was chess.

After a long while, the train began to slow, and Cailee began to feel excited, and slightly nervous. She didn't know Mrs. Weasley, what if she didn't like Cailee? What if she felt intimidated by Cailee and her family's power? Maybe she didn't even believe in her family, like so many others. But they were there. They existed. They always had.

"Harry! Hermione! Ron! Ginny!" shouted a short, red haired witch, standing near the platform. "

The five of them walked over to Mrs. Weasley and they all hugged her, except Cailee. When she was done hugging the others, she looked Cailee up and down, before whispering, "You look so much like them," and pulled her into a hug. Cailee was taken aback. She looked so much like whom? She was beginning to think that she was going to kill Jacob and Isaac if they had spilled the beans about their family. But all the same, Cailee hugged her back, feeling very gracious about her open show of hospitality.

"Come on now, children," she said, turning and starting to push her way through the station. "And tell me all about how school's been this term. And I hope you do find our place of residence especially pleasant for you, Cailee, dear." Cailee blushed pink and looked down at the ground.

She was used to being admired and praised at home. It was apart of her daily life. But here, it just felt…wrong. She was playing these people, shamming them into believing she was something she wasn't. Well that's not entirely true, she thought. They just don't know _why _I'm here.

She was startled out of her thoughts though, when Ron and Hermione had gotten into fight over who was going to ride inthe front seatof the Weasleys' new car.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I'm a bit shamed to admit that this is my shortest chapter, ever! 774 words, how horrible. But anyways, Christmas Break! Things start to get a bit confusing soon, so if you have any questions about whats going on, just leave me a review on it, and I'll get back to you! 


	21. The Less You Know for Now, the Better

_Chapter Twenty One_

_The Less You Know for Now, the Better_

Number 12 Grimmauld Place was something else. When Cailee had first arrived in the house, she had knocked over a troll trunk and started some portrait screaming its head off. Cailee found out that they had once tried to remove it, someone had finally found a potion to make it come off, but it adamantly refused to be moved. But according to the others, who had practically adopted this place as a second home, next to Hogwarts, it was a lot more enchanting than it been two summers ago. The house-elf heads that used to hang on the wall and all been thrown out, and instead replaced with pictures of places in England. Harry told her that for a short time the wall had held pictures of members of the Order, but they were removed incase the place was ever broken into and then Voldemort would know who exactly was after him.

The house was considerably brighter, since all the webs and been cleaned from the chandeliers and what not, and it was warmer, especially for winter. The place was already decorated for Christmas, with little trees in almost each and every room, garland on every banister, and a few Christmas lights strung about the house. Not to mention little Santa Claus nativity scenes here and there, and a few of the trees were bewitched to shout, "Merry Christmas!" and "Happy Hanukah!" except that they didn't know anyone who was Jewish.

Hermione had shown her up to the room she usually stayed in with Ginny, but Ginny had said she would move into another room upstairs that some of the Order members usually stayed in if they ever desired to stay over.

Cailee was extremely fascinated by the place. She couldn't believe Isaac and Jacob spent so much time here. And as she walked upstairs, she saw the wall in which one of her brothers had put the hole in when they had been playing football. She laughed at the thought of it, and she felt suddenly homesick, but she hurried back downstairs to be with the others so she wouldn't have to think about it as much.

Dinner the first night there was spectacular. Mrs. Weasley had definitely outdone herself. There was ham, chicken, turkey, pork, steak, salad, beans, potatoes, candied yams and all sorts of other good things, even though it wasn't yet Christmas. Harry seemed rather sulky through out the whole meal and rather withdrawn from everyone. When they had finally finished eating, Cailee stood up and headed to the doorway to go upstairs. She heard a large popping sound, and someone's head appeared in the fire. Cailee was so startled when she turned to look at it that she knocked over one of the little Christmas trees next to her. Mr. Weasley began to laugh as he fixed it with his wand.

"Neat little Muggle invention, that is," he said, pointing at the tree, "whoever thought up fake Christmas trees is probably a rich fellow by now, huh, Harry?" he asked.

Harry nodded mutely.

Cailee turned back to the fire, the person who was in it was conversing with Mrs. Weasley.

"—but anyways, Mum, I'm kind of tied up here with Isaac and Jacob—" Cailee gasped. This person was with her brothers? She moved over to the fire, so she could see into it. She was looking at Bill.

"—so we probably won't…Cailee? Is that you?" Bill asked, his eyes widening when he saw her next to his mother.

Cailee nodded.

"I didn't know you were staying here over holiday?"

Mrs. Weasley cut in before Cailee could respond, "Yes she is, but finish telling me, okay? Why are you stuck there?" she asked, sounding kind of frightened.

"—because McNair," there was a loud sound from somewhere on Bill's side of the fire. "Got to go Mum, it's dangerous." And with another loud _pop_ his head disappeared.

Needless to say, after that brief, and terse explanation, if you could call it that, Mrs. Weasley was in shambles. She was worried about her eldest son, no doubt, but Cailee was more afraid for her brothers. They were with him, but no matter what, they could never face the same ultimate price Bill might end up paying. And with that weighing on her conscience when she went to bed, Cailee felt, for the first time, extremely guilty about who she was and her family's gift.

The next day Cailee awoke, feeling refreshed and excited. She was happy that she didn't have classes today, or for three more weeks, actually. She walked downstairs still in her pajamas and walked into the kitchen. She walked rather quietly, and the one person in the kitchen didn't hear her enter. For a moment, she was tempted to walk away quietly, but she was far too hungry for that.

"Morning, Fred," she said, walking briskly by him towards the kitchen.

"Cailee," he muttered, spooning porridge into his mouth. Cailee fixed up a bowl of oatmeal and then sat down at the opposite end of the table on the opposite side. She ate in silence for a few minutes, catching Fred throwing her dirty looks.

"What is your problem?" she finally asked.

"Problem? Me? I don't have a problem," he said.

"Fine Fred, whatever. Keep it up like this, but I'm here for three weeks, and whenever you're here, we're bound to run into each other; I mean, it's not that huge of a house. We can be friends. Or we can be enemies. I'll leave that decision up to you," she said, walking away from her unfinished oatmeal.

Fred rolled his eyes. _Who does that girl think she is? She doesn't own this house. She's a traitor to all Gryffindors, dating that slime Slytherin Malfoy. We need to set her up with a Gryffindor…someone like…me._ He shook that away. Cailee was his brother's best friend, no matter how hot she was. That was an unwritten rule in the family, you don't date someone's friend. Fred pushed back from the table soon afterwards and went up to his and George's room.

Later on that morning, Cailee sat up in the study with Ron, Ginny and Harry and Hermione. Mrs. Weasley had sent them upstairs to finish their homework so they wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the break. Ron and Harry had protested, saying that too much homework and studying was going to cloud their mind and they wouldn't be able to get into the mood of Christmas and the gift of giving. However, Mrs. Weasley didn't buy it and sent them upstairs telling them not to come down till they were done, no matter if it took till the next day. Ginny seemed to see this as some sort of punishment on their part. When they got upstairs she rounded on Harry and Ron.

"What did you two do?" she demanded. For the first time, Cailee saw truly innocent looks on their faces.

"What are you talking about Gin?" Harry asked, settling down at the only desk.

"You must have done something to her for her to have sent us upstairs like that. She's obviously mad."

"Don't worry, Ginny. She's just stressed about Bill. He didn't really tell her much last night," Hermione said, plopping down onto the couch, and Ginny sat down next to her grumbling. Ron sat down and spread his stuff out on the coffee table, and Cailee sprawled out on the floor. They soon devised a system for getting their homework done. They each decided to do one piece of the homework they'd been assigned, and then they would all copy each other's work. It took Hermione a little persuading, but she decided to go along with it. Ginny whined profusely, since she wasn't in the same year and had to do all her work herself. All the same, they didn't get done until seven o'clock, because they had to research numberless amounts of potions, some they hadn't even studied, and the one piece they couldn't copy was McGonagall's Career assignment.

"Finished?" Mrs. Weasley asked, as they tromped down the stairs into the kitchen for dinner.

"Yes," Cailee grumbled, with the others nodding along with her.

"Mum! It was terrible! Snape really has turned into a crotchety old bat! Half that stuff we didn't even learn!" Ron whined, sitting down, and pulling some chicken towards him.

"It wouldn't have been so difficult, Weasley, if you had paid attention in class, rather than play with fake wands and such nonsense," said a very oily voice from the other side of the room. Ron choked on his chicken when the voice had started speaking, and coughed it back up onto his plate. Mrs. Weasley let out a gasp.

"You've been playing with the twins' stuff in class?" she asked rounding on him. Ron glanced at Harry for help.

"You too Harry?" she asked.

"Yes, indeed, Molly, and Miss Ooteropeia also. Miss Granger seems the only one concerned about her future, though it doesn't look clear what it will be." Snape said, walking towards her.

"I can't believe you two!" she snapped, banging a pot on the oven. "You're turning out worse than then the twins! And Cailee! You too! I expected more!"

For some reason, Cailee felt considerably depressed when Mrs. Weasley had yelled at her like that. She sat down next to Ron, and Ginny followed next to her.

"I hope Scrooge doesn't ruin our Christmas," Hermione mumbled from the other side of the table next to Harry. Harry sniggered.

"I heard that, Miss Granger," Snape said, swooping past them. "Molly, will you please tell Moody that our plan for McNair and Avery has failed, and we need him as soon as we can get him?"

"Yes I wi—McNair and Avery? Where my son is at? What's gone wrong?" she pleaded.

"Molly, you know I can't tell you this."

"Why not?" she yelled.

"Because…well…you don't need to know, right yet."

"He's my son!"

"The less you know for now, the better," he said, and walked out

* * *

**Author's Notes: **They are FINALLY here! The long awaited Christmas chapters! 


	22. Who's Getting Frisky?

_Chapter Twenty Two_

_Who's Getting Frisky?_

The next day, Professor Lupin showed up. He was as surprised to see Cailee there as she was to see him. However, he was taking a break from school, since he was on holiday, and Dumbledore was granting him a reprieve from duty, since the last moon had waned, and he needed to recover his strength. However, he had a treat for the teens. It was something totally new to Cailee, and she was excited by it.

"What's this?" she asked, when Lupin had safely led them out of the house, and had cast a concealment charm on the hill area they were standing on.

"A sled?" Ron asked, looking at her curiously.

"Oh…really? What does it do?" she asked.

"You've _never _been on a sled before?" he asked.

"Well, no."

"Why not?" Ron asked, as though it were a sin for one to never go sledding.

"Just…no hills at home," she said, which was relatively true.

"Sit down," Ron said, and let her get into the front, while he sat in the middle, and Ginny crammed on back. Harry and Hermione had their own sled and looked rather cozy.

"Okay, here we go!" he yelled, rocking the sled back and forth, and Ginny pushed off the hill with her hands. What followed was a rush of excitement for Cailee. They began heading off down the hill, towards a pond in the back that was frozen over. Cailee was extremely terrified that the lake would break underneath their weight, but Ron and Ginny maneuvered it just enough that they barely skimmed the edge of it, before heading off into a thicket of trees.

"Left! Left! Right! Left again!" Ron shouted, and he and Ginny would thrust their bodies whatever way they needed to avoid the many trees everywhere. When they reached the other side of the thicket, Ron had turned around to see where Harry and Hermione had gotten to, and looked back around only when Cailee shrieked with fright. They were headed straight at a bunch of fallen trees that had been dragged away from the thicket.

"Right, Ginny! Right!" he yelled, throwing his body mercilessly, but to no avail. With a great _OOMPH!_ they hit the pile of six or seven trees. Cailee was thrown forward, scratching her face up on the tree bark and landing her stomach right on top of a small branch poking out. Ron was thrown pretty close to her, but he had somehow managed to land on his stomach also, with his head stuck in between a crack in two trees. It was so tiny; Cailee wondered how his big head could fit through it. Ginny had bailed out to the side after they hit the trees, and landed in a big, comfy, soft pile of snow. Cailee was extremely jealous.

"Cailee! Cailee, are you all right?" cried Ron, after struggling to pull out his head.

"Ouch…," she grunted out, rolling over tenderly. Her stomach was bruised, scratched, and bleeding.

"Cailee! You're face is bleeding!" Ron said, wiping her face with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Ow! Don't touch it Ron!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry, Cailee. What do you want me to do, let you keep bleeding?"

"Yes, I'd rather sit here and puddle up in my own blood without you trying to help, all right?" she barked.

"Wow, Cailee. I've never seen you like this." He whispered, as though shocked by her sudden outburst.

"Well, what do you want me to do, Ron? Sit here and laugh with you? My stomach hurts! See this?" she said, pulling up her jacket and T-shirt to reveal a bruise the size of someone's fist to the right of her navel. There were scratches all over her stomach, but this was the worst part, with blood trickling out of it and spreading around, leaving blood streaks.

"I'm sorry, Cailee. It was an accident, don't jump down my throat, all right?" he said.

"Let's just go back to the hill. You guys keep playing, I'll sit up there and watch." She said, and led the way off towards the top of the hill. Ginny and Ron shrugged at each other and fell in step behind her.

Cailee's stomach was extremely sore when she finally sat down up at the top of the hill. Ron and Ginny tried to help her again, but she refused, and they kept on sledding.

Cailee pulled back her shirt again to look at her cut up stomach, which still bleed slowly.

"Ouch, what happened?" said someone quietly from behind her. She spun her head and saw, at the moment, her least favorite twin. She just glared at him, and turned back around, staring intently down the hill. She heard crunching footsteps and knew that Fred was coming to sit next to her. And he did.

"Really, Cailee, what happened?" he asked, pulling her hand away from her stomach gently.

"It doesn't matter. You'd probably call me a traitor for some reason or another if I told you," she sniffed.

"Knock it off Cailee. You're the one who told me yesterday it was my decision whether or not we were going to be enemies or friends. And I chose friends. Can you live with that?" he asked, staring at her.

She thought for a moment, before nodding her head.

"Oh, Fred, I'm so sorry. I have been being really terrible today, first to Ron, then to you. I just don't know…it's Christmas time, and it's the first time I've been away from home for Christmas. It's kind of hard," she said, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Aww, Cailee don't cry. It'll be all right. You're here with us, we can kind of be like your family, cant we?" he asked, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her tighter to him.

She giggled. "Yeah, you can."

"See, no reason to cry. You're fine."

_Wow! She is pretty fine! Her body is so light and tender. Her cheeks are so beautiful when they're red like that. Her eyes…they're even more blue after she's cried._ He thought, and pulled her even closer.

_Mmm…he smells so good. Like Malfoy. Oh NO! Malfoy! He'd probably kill me if he knew I was this close to Fred. It's not right. Fred's nice and all, and sure, he's pretty cute, but this would be too weird between us and Ron, _she thought, and pulled away.

"Are you all right?" he asked, startled by her sudden movement.

"Yea…it's just—"

"Malfoy." He finished for her, his brows furrowing.

"Yeah. Malfoy," she said, looking down.

"I'm sorry Cailee. I didn't mean to come on to you or anything," he said.

"No! Fred, no! You didn't. You didn't do anything wrong. Don't ever think that, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, well, I did."

"You didn't Fred, so don't beat yourself up about it."

"All right," he said, but he still seemed withdrawn.

Cailee glanced down the hill and saw Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron coming back up. Harry and Hermione seemed to be racing each other up, but they were still too far away. Ron and Ginny scooped up some snow, and ran right up behind Harry and Hermione and started throwing snowballs at them. Hermione shrieked, and Ron tackled her to the snow, with Harry and Ginny dog piling up on top of her, tickling her like mad. They were all giggling, and Cailee started laughing too, at the comical scene below her.

"Ouch! That hurt," she said, and quit laughing because of the pain in her side.

"What?" Fred asked, looking concerned.

"My side…ow, it hurt. Don't worry, though," she said, smiling.

"Here, let me help," he said. He grabbed some snow from the ground, and rolled it into a snowball. Then he pulled back her shirt to her wound, all though he was tempted for a moment to pull it up a little farther, only for a moment though, and placed the snow on her cut.

She gasped deeply. "It's cold," she said.

"I know, but it will help. It will numb up a little. Here, lean back, okay?" He said, pulling her head down into his lap, and he leaned over her to hold the snow onto her stomach. It was weird being this close to her, he thought.

"Done yet?" she asked.

"Not yet. It's still bleeding a bit. A few minutes."

Cailee waited patiently for a moment or two, but the cold was too much, so she pushed the snow away, grabbing his hand at the same time. Before she even realized it, he had laced his fingers with hers, and he was still leaning over her, looking into her eyes.

She stared at the face of Fred, which seemed to be upside down. Some part of her brain clicked, and she realized they were holding hands—

"Caught you at a bad moment, did we?" asked Harry, finally reaching the top of the hill. Fred jerked himself back.

"Seems we did, Harry. Shall we leave them alone?" Ron asked, grinning.

"We probably should. But you know, we wouldn't want them getting too frisky or anything."

"Frisky? Who's getting frisky?" asked a voice almost identical to Fred's.

"Our dear brother and our guest," said Ginny.

"Oh really now?" asked George, curious.

"Shut up George! We're not doing anything! She was cut and I…er…I helped her."

"I'm sure you'd help her do _anything_," said Ginny.

"GINNY! What a thing to say!" said Hermione, who was grinning also.

"Shut up you guys! It's Fred, for crying out loud! What would I want with him…when I could have George?" Cailee said, trying to take some of the embarrassment from Fred and throw it at George.

"Yeah, I don't want Cailee anyways. Who I really want is….Hermione!" Fred said, leaping at her.

"Oh no you don't, Fred!" shouted Harry, tugging him off of Hermione. George had taken the time to run over to Cailee and help her to her feet. They grinned at each other (even though he was blushing like mad) and started a barrage of snowballs at their friends.

An hour later, soaking to the bone, and shivering like crazy, they proceeded to the house with Lupin, who had seen everything that had taken place at the top of the hill from a distance. He teased Fred and Cailee about their "moment" and was determined not to let it go.

"Dear jeez!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, when the seven of them plus Lupin walked into the house, dragging snow around them.

"Out of those wet clothes, now! Into the showers, then in front of the fire! Now!" she said. Cailee wandered around aimlessly after that, since no one had bothered to tell her where she might find a shower, until Mr. Weasley found her opening and shutting doors upstairs, and pointed her off into the right direction.

Later on, Cailee found herself in front of the fire in her room, and sipping some hot chocolate, and staring intently into it. The steam billowed up into her face. Around her, Harry was reading a Quidditch book, Ginny was playing with Crookshanks and Schnitzie, Hermione was laying on the floor, forming words with her mouth without actually speaking them, and Cailee was sure she was practicing spells and what not; Ron was laying on Hermione's bed, dozing off.

_This surely is heaven on earth, _she thought.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Hey everyone! Sorry about the lack of updates! I've been busy this week. I'm creating a new website that I absolutley love, and when I'm finished with it I'll give you guys the link. I also have ideas forming to start a Harry Potter website too, on MSN, though I don't know how long it will take before I actually do. But either way, I go back to school on Monday and so the updates are going to be fewer, but if I get enough reviews tonight, I'll post up a chapter or two tomorow to try and hold you guys over! 


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